Saving Lives
by theredheadedleague
Summary: House's team gets a new member, who has a great impact on a certain doctor. AU-ish with different teams and plot lines, but I try to stay true to House. (Rewrite of an old fanfic I'd published, rated T for occasional mild swearing and other House-type things)
1. Chapter 1

It was a normal day at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, and the team was working on a normal case. Well, as normal of a case as House's team could ever expect. A woman's niece had brought her in when her speech began to slur, but the ER had ruled out a stroke. So far, nothing apparent jumped out at them.

Dr. Cameron walked into the room, listening to the woman give her niece advice. "That Chris isn't husband material anyway, sweetheart. Let him marry Amber or whatever her name is. You'll find someone eventually."

"Excuse me. I've got a few questions for you."

The girl turned around, nodding. She followed Cameron into the hallway, pushing a strand of ginger hair out of her face as she asked, "Do you know what's wrong with her? We were having coffee, talking about her book club, and the next thing we know, we're here."

"I need you to tell me the whole story. I know you told the ER nurse, but maybe if we heard everything, we'd be able to piece it together," Cameron offered, taking a seat beside her. "Don't leave anything out, no matter how trivial it might seem."

"Okay. We were in her sitting room when it happened. She'd just come back from getting her hair and nails done like she does every few weeks. She was in her usual sewing chair, and I was across from her, on the couch. She picked up her coffee, and that's when I noticed her hands were shaking. I figured she was just dehydrated, and went to get her a glass of water. That's when she said she was fine, but it came out so slurred that I barely understood what she was saying. She tried to stand and would've fallen over if I hadn't caught her in time. On the way here, she kept saying her throat was dry and she needed a drink. She wasn't sick all morning, or at all yesterday." The woman glanced back into her aunt's room, checking to see if she was okay.

"We've got her on IV fluids now, just in case it is a simple dehydration case, but that's not very likely," Cameron admitted as she made some notes. "We also have her on broad-spectrum antibiotics. The team should have a diagnosis soon."

As Cameron stood to leave, the woman stopped her. "Be honest with me. How bad is she? I've heard Dr. House only takes strange or interesting cases. This can't be simple dehydration."

"We should know that soon."

When Chase knocked on the door, the woman was asleep, her niece restlessly flipping through a medical journal. "Hi. Ms. Hamilton? Dr. House is looking for you." _Is this guy a doctor? He sounds like a pro surfer._

She set the magazine down, looking up at her aunt's vitals before following him into the hall. "Call me Alice."

"Chase," he smiled as they walked down the hall. "Dr. Robert Chase."

"Have you figured out what's wrong with my Aunt Elle?"

"That's what Dr. House wants to talk to you about." He stopped outside of an office. Inside, a man was bouncing a tennis ball off of one of the glass walls. "I'm going to warn you, he's not one of the most likable people you'll ever meet. He can be a bit… well, rude is the best word for it. I've got to run down to the lab, but I'll be back in a minute or two. Do you want me to grab you a coffee or something?"

"Cream, one sugar," she smiled.

"Not a problem."

"I see you've met young Romeo," the man in the glass office said. He stopped bouncing the tennis ball, turning to her instead. "This had better be good. I don't like patients wasting my time. Does your aunt do a lot of drugs?"

"What? She's never picked up a cigarette, let alone done heavy drugs." Alice took a chair opposite his desk.

"Her symptoms are consistent with a barbiturate overdose. Sleeping pills? Anxiety meds?"

"No."

"Heavy drinker?"

"Dr. House, she has an occasional glass of wine, nothing more. Is this going to be of any help?"

"You've convinced me to order a CT scan." He pages his employees, instructing them to complete the scan.

"Well? What is it?"

"Sarcoidosis. We an confirm with the scan. It's a disease that causes abnormal-"

"Inflammation in certain areas of the body, sometimes brought on by an antigen, which is what you believe is causing all of her symptoms," Alice concluded. "Sorry. I've got a doctorate in forensic psych. Part of it was a regular medical rotation."

"Cool."

"Who are you?" she asked bluntly.

"Dr. Gregory House, head of-"

"No, who are you really? What I see is a man with a limp that's addicted to prescription painkillers and cynicism, even if he refuses to admit it. I also see a man who refuses to admit that he's surprised a random person off the street knows what sarcoidosis is. I also think you need to change the way you walk or you'll have that limp forever, and bad arches to boot." She pushed her glasses up on her nose to emphasize her point.

Another doctor knocked at the door, announcing that, "the CT came back clear. It's not sarcoidosis."

"Damn it. This is Dr. Foreman, by the way. Foreman, Dr. Hamilton."

"Nice to meet you. Your aunt's the one down the hall?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Chase." Chase had followed Foreman in, handing Alice a cup of coffee.

House glanced at his pager before giving more instructions. "Chase, get down to Mrs. Hamilton's room. Her lung function is decreasing rapidly. Help Cameron slow it down. Foreman, run every blood test for toxins you can think of. Hurry." Alice stood, ready to follow them. "You stay here."

She sat back down obediently, waiting. House folded his hands on the desk. "Do you know what I see?"

"What? A girl whose aunt is dying because you idiots can't figure out what's wrong with her? Someone who would love to be anywhere but here right now? Someone with a relative with a good 20, 30 years left but is dying down the hall?"

"Mmm, not exactly. I see an overtired and over-stressed young woman who is between jobs and itching for excitement. I see a nice young girl who clearly thinks the hospital man-whore is cute. And I see someone who's just gotten a job." He leaned back in his chair, waiting for a reaction.

"Excuse me?"

"Dr. Chase. It's clear you think he's Dr. Sexy."

"No. The last part."

"You're hired. I've been looking for someone who can do forensics. We get an interesting amount of patients who have been victims or committed one crime or another. I need a good legal brain on the team. As for the medical aspect of the job, I expect you're a bit out of practice, since you've spent the last couple years asking Mr. Dahmer just why he killed all of those people, and not actually treating patients. I'll arrange to have you shadow Dr. Sexy. That'll make for some good team drama."

"You mean it? The woman who raised me is dying, and you're offering me a job?"

House nodded. "Pretty much. Get out there on the ward. I'll let Dr. Sexy know as soon as I can."

"What the hell is wrong with her? You have no clue, do you?" Alice asked Dr. Foreman. He had run into her outside of her aunt's room after he'd been forced to set her set up on a respirator.

"No. We're still running tests. Is there anything you haven't told us about her? Anything at all. Operations, illnesses, allergies?"

"No, not that I know of."

She had been sitting with her aunt for a few hours, chatting and reading her things from the gossip magazines a nurse had brought in, when Dr. Chase came by, knocking on the glass door before walking in. "May I talk to you?" Her aunt smiled weakly, gesturing for her to go. They stepped into the hall, where Chase asked if she wanted to grab something to eat. "It's nearly nine-thirty. The hospital cafeteria should be pretty cleared out."

"Sure. Just give me a sec, I've got to tell Aunt Elle that I'm going."

They walked down the corridor a few minutes later, Chase casually mentioning that "House says you're shadowing me."

"Yeah, apparently he needs me to work on your crime victims. I think it's more the psychological aspect. You don't deal with a lot of normal, living people in forensic psych. Most of the guys I work with don't have physical illnesses. House says I'm supposed to follow you around, basically."

"How am I going to be able to work with such a pretty girl following me around?" Chase laughed.

 _Woah, he's flirting with me. What_. He held the door to the cafeteria, which was empty except for a few tired-looking parents dozing off over cups of coffee. He knocked on the door to the kitchen, a rather round woman opening it after a moment.

"Hello, Chase, dear. I'm afraid all I've got is coffee, tea, and leftover pizza. We reopen tomorrow at eight."

"Pizza's fine, Mary. Thank you." She handed over two plates, raising an eyebrow. "This is Alice, our new forensic psychology something or other with Diagnostics. She's shadowing me and probably half-starved by now."

"Alright. I'm heading out soon. You two behave yourselves." Mary bustled away into the kitchen.

Alice and Chase grabbed a booth near the coffee machine, away from the few people who were still in the cafeteria. "So, Dr. Robert Chase, what's your story?"

His cheeks already full of food, he tried to speak. "I had a rubbish childhood and no-good parents. I raised my sister, and went off to become a priest. That didn't last long, as you can tell."

"Have you saved many lives?" she asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

"I guess you could say that. I'm an intensivist, so it doesn't always happen," he admitted. "The people I normally deal with come with high mortality rates. What about you? How does a beautiful girl end up interviewing serial killers all day?"

"My parents died when I was four. I went into forensics because it was cool. And now I'm here, talking to a handsome young gentleman, and a doctor at that, in the cafeteria of a hospital while my aunt is dying of some unidentified problem."

Chase's pager went off. "Speak of the devil."

"What is it?"

"Her respiration is getting worse. We've got to go," Chase stood, Alice running after him towards the elevator. While they waited in the elevator, Chase asked if there could be anything her aunt had done the day before that was out of the ordinary for her. "There's got to be something. If it was environmental, you'd be sick too."

"She just went to her hair appointment this morning. She got her nails done and oh my god, Chase!" She bolted out of the elevator as the doors opened, yelling to Cameron to "Get her on Heptavalent antitoxins, Trivalent if you don't have them!"

"What is it?" Chase asked, catching up to her. House had come out of his office to watch the commotion.

"Onabotulinumtoxin A," Alice explained, pulling her hair up and putting on a pair of gloves. "She gets Botox injections. She was telling me about the new guy at the salon, learning how to do them today. Someone needs to call the salon and tell them that he isn't preparing them properly."

Twenty minutes later, Alice sat in the diagnostics conference room, trying not to fall asleep. Her Aunt Elle was responding well to the treatment. She would be off the ventilator and breathing on her own within an hour, and would likely be moved into a different room the next morning. If all went well, she would be released within a few days. "That was some brilliant thinking," Chase said, leaning on the doorframe, watching her yawn. "You look like you could use a nap."

"Yeah, considering I've been going crazy almost all day. It's got to be near 3 AM. Why are you still here?" She yawned again, running a hand through her hair.

Chase shrugged. "I guess it's all the excitement. Pretty girl comes in with a dying aunt, I get a new colleague who is supposed to shadow me, not my average day. I was just dropping by to say that I'm heading home since this has all quieted down. I can give you a ride if you want."

"Thanks," she smiled, "but I think I'll stay here. If she's transferred in the morning, I'll head home. I'm sure House wouldn't object."

"Alright. Have a good night." She watched him walk down the hall, smiling as his coat flapped behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

"New patient. Gentleman in his early thirties," House walked into the diagnostic conference room a week later, where the others had gathered. He noted Alice was sitting in Chase's usual spot, Chase leaning against the wall. _Well, she is supposed to be shadowing him_. "I'll have to get another chair."

"Symptoms?" Alice asked, ignoring his comment and picking up a case file. "It says he was admitted through the ER fairly quickly."

"Odd heart beat," House began to outline the case on his whiteboard. "Very irregular. Breathing difficulty, but that was made better when the paramedics reinflated his spontaneously collapsed lung. Ideas?"

"Infection destroying vital organs? Infection hitting the lungs first could be from exposure to something in the air," Foreman proposed, setting his copy of the file down. "If gets at the heart and lungs at the same rate."

"It could have started in the lungs and just recently hit the heart. The lung symptoms were more severe," Cameron noted.

"Foreman, Cameron, find out if he's been exposed to anything. Captain and Junior Kangaroo, go see if broad spectrum antibiotics can do anything. That might buy more time. At this rate, to spreading quickly," House ordered.

Alice shook her head and got up, heading out the door without a word. House raised an eyebrow. "I'll handle it," Chase offered, following her out as the others watched.

She was in the man's room, where he was talking weakly. "I've never done drugs or anything. I've had a weak heart since I was a kid. They said I was in danger of an aortic problem. I had a bad case of acid reflux, and I thought I was going to throw up. Then when I dropped an antacid tablet on the floor, I bent over and I couldn't breathe."

"Alright. They've got you on assisted breathing right now, but we're working on figuring this out. Try and get some rest." She walked out of the room before turning to Chase, who had been watching her hook up the antibiotic drip. "What do they think it is?"

"Loeys-Dietz," Cameron announced, walking up behind them. "It fits the heart palpitations and the aorta problems his medical records identified. And in certain cases, it can cause wear on other organs too. Therefore, the lung collapses with only a bit of force."

"He doesn't have the abnormal scarring you see in most LD patients." Foreman shook his head, joining the group. "Alice, House says you've got to be the one tell him."

"Why me? It's only my second week."

"I don't know. He's like that. I'd assume it's a test and get on with it. Just do it, and we can go on treating the symptoms."

"Fine," she sighed, heading back into the room. "Mr. Lawson," she said, sitting down in the chair next to the bed.

The man put on his glasses, looking over at her. "Have you figured it out?"

"We think you have something called Loeys-Dietz Syndrome. It's a genetic disease that causes plenty of heart problems, along with other organ tissue problems. There's no treatment. We can only alleviate the symptoms."

"How long have I got? I want to finish writing my book before I die. I'll die from this, won't I? Oh lord, I'm going to die in the hospital."

Alice paused before telling him, "In your condition, we'd like to run a few scans before we make a definitive call. But with sudden organ collapse, your prognosis doesn't look too good."

"Can you hand me the phone? I'd like to call my brother and let him know. He's the only family I've got."

"Sure." She handed Lawson the phone before stepping out of the room as he dialed.

Chase had been waiting in the hall while Foreman and Cameron had gone to get ready for the additional scans. _She looks like she's going to cry._ He gave her a hug immediately, telling her, "The first one is bad. It gets a bit better later on, but you never really get used to telling people they're going to die."

"How many people have you seen die, Chase?" Alice asked, her face pressed into his neck. _He smells nice. No. You're working. He's a coworker. He's your mentor. You have to help the dying guy. But Chase does smell nice._

"A lot. Many more than I'd like. And I'm sure some of them were because of me."

"Your cologne smells nice," she smiled, trying not to think of the man who was now telling his brother that he was probably not going to leave the hospital alive.

"Thanks." He kissed her cheek, saying, "Let's give him a few minutes to talk to his brother. The others will need some help." He let go of her, suddenly realizing what he had done. "I'm so sorry, I-"

"No. It's okay." She kissed his cheek in return. "You're pretty cute when you're flustered."

"So you... I mean, you -"

"Do I fancy you, as you'd say?" She mimicked his accent, smiling. "Well, I have always liked cute doctors with nice hair and wonderful hugs."

"Do you want to go for a cup of coffee, when we get a chance to skip out of here?" Chase asked as they headed down the hall.

"I'd love to. But don't we have a dying guy to scan first?"

When they met in the conference room a few hours later, everyone was stumped. "He's got a severely weakened aortic valve. Likely myxomatous degeneration. But it's bothering me that there's no odd bruising and his eyes are spaced normally. Those are indicators that this isn't LD." Cameron held up an image of his heart, the aortic valve circled.

"Well, what if it's a lung problem with a heart issue as an aftereffect?" Foreman proposed.

"There's some decent thinking," House said. "What lung problems would cause heart thinning?"

"Well, lots of lung diseases can get advanced enough to cause the heart to begin to fail," Chase said. "There's a whole host of them, and testing might take more time than we have. His toxins all came back clean?"

"Unfortunately. That would have made it interesting," House told them. "He's healthy, except for the randomly collapsing lung and aortic thinning."

"Does he have any significant medical history?" Alice asked, looking for clues in the file. "He's said he had heart problems for a while."

Cameron opened his file. "Pneumonia as a kid, broke an arm skiing at twenty. Cataract surgery a few years ago, which is really early. Reported sleeping problems and was diagnosed with sleep apnea last year."

"Does he wear the glasses because of the surgery?" House wondered, looking over her shoulder at the file.

"He's shortsighted," Alice answered. "Much worse than I am."

"Hmm," House said, sitting back in his chair.

"You have an idea?" Foreman asked. "Please, share."

"What do you think?"

"I think there's a man dying in that room who deserves some treatment," Cameron told him pointedly. "It would help if you told us your diagnosis."

Alice looked over at Chase, who nodded his encouragement. She'd caught on early. "Marfan Syndrome."

"Go on, I'm listening. Sort of."

"Heart problems, collapsing lungs, severe myopia. Sleep apnea and early cataracts. All of them are classic signs. He's also got the height, which LD doesn't have. Since he's also lacking some classic LD presenting symptoms, Marfan is a safe bet."

"Very good," House said, twirling his cane. "Exactly what I was thinking. I really did well hiring you. Go tell him."

Alice knocked on Lawson's door. She went and sat beside him, as she had done before. "We've come up with something that explains all of your symptoms, even the ones present before today. You've got something known as Marfan Syndrome. It's genetic too, and I'm afraid we can't stop it."

"So I'm going to die."

"Maybe not today, but yes, probably soon. Your heart is wearing out. If we tried to replace it at this point, we'd be denied a transplant and it likely wouldn't take, even if we got you one. You may also need a lung transplant, if we could get the go-ahead to operate on your heart in your condition." She watched him process this, realizing that the odds were stacked against him.

"I'll never have kids," he sighed. "I won't see the Grand Canyon or go on a honeymoon or party until sunrise again. I'll never meet my heroes, and I won't get that book published. Why do I regret so much now that I know I've only got what, a week? If that?"

"Have you ever heard of Jonathan Larson?" Alice asked him. He shook his head. "He wrote one of my favorite shows. It talks about the idea that you should live every day as if it were your last, but not to go crazy with them. Every day has a meaning, and so does what you do or don't do within it. He had Marfan Syndrome too. He died the morning of the first performance, but became an icon to millions of people. If you publish that book, it'll be like you're living on in the minds of everyone who reads it."

"I've got two questions for you, Dr. Hamilton."

"Alice," she insisted.

"First, can you make sure my brother gets the flash drive with my book on it? I want him to finish it. It's in my will that he would get my things, but I want you to make sure."

Alice made a note of it out of courtesy. "Of course. That shouldn't be a problem."

"Second, is there a movie of that show you were talking about?"

Alice smiled. "Do you want to watch it?"

Fifteen minutes later, Lawson and Alice were watching the opening scenes of the show. Lawson was depending more and more heavily on the respirator, Alice keeping an eye on his vitals.

After a little while, Chase stuck his head into the room. "Mind if I join you?"

"Sure," Lawson nodded, looking back at the TV. "You know, this is actually okay."

Chase pulled a chair up next to Alice, who leaned her head on his shoulder. He had never seen the musical either, and she loved watching both of them react. By the end of the show, he was holding her hand. Everyone had laughed, and nearly cried, though Chase would later deny it.

 _This is nice. She's nice. It isn't normal, but then again, no one on House's team has a normal life._

As the credits rolled, Lawson was beginning to speak when his heart monitor suddenly flatlined. Alice jumped up, running to inject him with Vasopressin. Chase prepped a defibrillator, but it was too late. His heart couldn't be restarted, despite all of their attempts. As Cameron and Foreman ran into the room, Chase looked down at his watch. "Time of death, 10:36 PM."

Alice sat on the patio of the hospital lounge, looking out at the dark sky. "First death?" Chase sat down beside her, putting a comforting arm around her. "Mine was this old woman I had played cards with for a few days. It hurts a lot at first, but forgiving yourself gets easier. We did everything we could."

She leaned into his arms. "I know. But I'm still glad I have you to talk to. Cameron would be close to tears of she were here, Foreman is used to it, and House wouldn't care. But you, you're..."

"A good listener?"

"With a nice voice. You know, I like hearing you talk."

"How about that coffee?" he offered. "Then you can hear me talk more."

"That sounds good."


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a week since Mr. Lawson passed away. Cameron and Foreman stood in the diagnostics room, discussing what had quickly become hospital gossip: Chase and Alice. Nurses could be overheard discussing them, each one trying to catch them glancing at each other or walking together. At lunch, hospital staff would spy on them, trying to listen in on their conversations. House was starting a betting pool. "Ten bucks says that they're going out," Cameron said, opening her wallet. "There's a betting pool open."

"Twenty says they're cooped up in a supply closet," House proposed, walking into the room. "We've got a ten year old boy suffering from chest pain, fatigue, and pretty extensive hair loss. Either he's lying, and we really have an overweight 40 year old man, or we have our next case."

Alice walked into the room as House finished the sentence, saying, "Did I miss something? One of the nurses had a records question about Lawson's case."

"Really?" House raised an eyebrow, Foreman and Cameron watching her face. "Well then, where is Romeo?"

"Right here," Chase said, walking into the room with a chart. "We just got a ten year old with-"

"We've heard it already," Cameron told him. "House just told us the same thing."

"Differential?"

"Lupus can show some of these signs," Alice proposed. "Does he have a rash?"

"I meant on you two," House scoffed. "But lupus? It's never lupus. Foreman, your try."

"Well, I'm thinking they're together, and the kid's chest pain could be hypothyroidism," he answered. "Why don't we run a few tests and get back together?"

"Sounds better than 'lupus'," House nodded.

Chase and Alice went to prep the boy, while Foreman went to set up the lab. As Alice was pulling on a pair of gloves, Chase leaned over and whispered, "Look, House can be-"

"I know exactly what House can be," Alice said. "He's brash and he's callous and downright rude sometimes. But I think I'm right about this."

"If it makes you feel any better, I think you may have been on to something back there." Chase smiled when they walked into the room. The boy was lying in bed, his heart monitor tracking normally. "Anthony, right? I'm Dr. Chase, and this is Dr. Hamilton."

"Yeah. Am I really sick? I have a hockey game on Friday. It's the last one of the year."

Chase pulled on a pair of gloves. "You're in a hospital. You're sick. Don't worry, though, we're going to make sure you can be back on the team in no time."

"We're going to take you down to the labs," Alice explained. "We've got to take blood and stuff, but first we want to check that your heart is working alright. That's pretty important for a hockey player."

House looked up from the file. "It's not his heart," Chase said, shaking his head. "The blood work came back negative for anemia too, so we can rule that out."

"Is it a stress reaction? Maybe something's going on in his life that's making his systems overreact."

"Great idea, Cameron, but the parents have been interviewed, and they say everything's okay at home and at school," House told her, shooting the idea down.

Chase leaned back in his chair. "I talked to him during the inversion test. He says the same thing. He's happy. He's even got a little girlfriend at school."

"And Chase has got a little girlfriend at work," House added.

"We should get an image of his lungs. Small cell lung cancer might cause the chest pain and fatigue," Foreman said, ignoring House.

"But not the hair loss."

"Set him up for an MRI anyway," House agreed. "Cover the bases, shall we?" They group stood, heading for the door as House's pager went off. "But Chase, no hitting any bases tonight for you. We're working late. Apparently our boy's developing sores in his mouth, and a nurse reports his lymph nodes have swollen to the size of baseballs."

"Turn off the lights," Anthony said as Alice brought him into the MRI room. "Please. It's so bright in here."

"Honey, the blinds are closed in the hall. There's only a little light coming in through the door. You only have one light on in here."

Chase pulled out a penlight. "Look here, sport, " he said, shining the light in the boy's eyes.

"Oww."

Chase looked over at Alice. "House is wrong," she mouthed. "We're going to give you an MRI. We want to look inside your lungs, okay? Just lay back and relax."

Looking at the MRI results, they saw what Alice hoped to see: nothing. "I told you, House was wrong. His lungs are clear."

"I never doubted you," Chase said as he helped Anthony back into his wheelchair. "Please don't confuse me and House."

"I won't, don't worry," she smiled as they waited for an elevator. "You're much cuter."

Anthony looked up from his wheelchair. "Are you two dating?" he asked.

"Uh..."

Chase shrugged. "Want to know a secret?" They let an elderly woman take the elevator before them, so they had to wait another few minutes. He crouched down so he could look Anthony in the eye. "I like this really pretty girl at work, and she's devilishly clever, too. But I don't know if I have the guts to ask her out."

Alice tried not to laugh as Anthony told him, "You said you're a surgeon, right? You've seen more blood and guts than lots of people. I'm sure you can do it."

"I think he just did," Alice smiled as they got into the elevator.

"And what does the pretty girl say?" Chase asked. He pushed the button for the next floor and looked back at her.

"She says yes."

"So his lungs and heart are clear," House erased 'lung cancer' from the whiteboard in the meeting room.

"Kidney disease could cause high blood pressure and tiredness."

"We checked his blood earlier. He's perfectly healthy except for whatever the heck is wrong with him," Cameron said.

"That's brilliant. The kid is healthy, besides for what's making him sick. I'm glad you paid so much to go to medical school," House remarked.

"Lymphadenitis, then."

"Doesn't explain the hair loss."

"It's lupus," Alice argued again.

"I'd have to agree with her," Chase said. "Lupus explains everything we're seeing. And since everything else has come back negative, it's most likely lupus."

"No," House countered. "You have to agree with her because it increases the chances that she'll sleep with you. Not because it has to be lupus. It's never lupus."

Alice shook her head, swallowing an aspirin. Chase raised an eyebrow. "I'm okay. House's idiocy and stubbornness are giving me a headache. That's all."

"It's not lupus."

"Yeah, just like you're not yelling," Alice said, standing up. "I'm going to go treat the patient. It's up to you if you guys want to stay here and debate with this imbecile." Chase followed her out. "He's an idiot," she began to rant, walking away from the conference room. "He's an idiot, and he's risking a kid's life because of it."

"Come here." He pulled her into a hug in the middle of the hall. "Hey, are you alright?"

"It's just a headache. And I'm tired, but I've pulled extra hours for the last few days. I'll be fine."

"Okay." He kissed the top of her head. "I guess I'm just paranoid then."

They walked into Anthony's room and stopped dead. His cheeks were covered in a red rash. "Hi Dr. Hamilton. Hi Dr. Chase. What's up?" Anthony yawned.

Alice marched over to House's office while Chase explained to the boy what was happening. "You need to see this."

"Yes ma'am," House said, grabbing his cane and following her. "Is Chase going to be this whipped? I feel like I should warn him. Or maybe he's into that. He definitely has mommy issues."

"Shut up and look at that boy. Tell me that isn't lupus."

"Well, I'll be darned. It's lupus."

"He's got a long life ahead of him," Foreman explained to Anthony's parents. Chase was talking to the boy himself, who was checking out of the hospital. "With new developments in medicine, the odds of living another twenty years are up near 80% if he stays on the meds we've prescribed."

"Tell Alexa about that scar you've got from the lumbar puncture we did when we ran all those tests. Chicks dig scars," Chase was telling Anthony while Foreman was discussing medication with his parents.

Anthony laughed. "Thanks, Dr. Chase. Do you have any scars?"

"Yeah," he answered, thinking the boy had asked in a moment of self consciousness.

"I bet Dr. Hamilton digs them," Anthony smiled.

"What do you think?" Chase asked Alice, who was standing next to him.

"I think he's cute, scars or not." She smiled, trying not to pay attention to House watching them from across the hall.


	4. Chapter 4

"Anna Mickelson, age four," Cameron said, walking into the diagnostics meeting room. House limped over from the coffee machine, and Chase set down his book to page Alice. She and Foreman arrived seconds later.

House began to write on his whiteboard as they sat down and Cameron described the case. "Persistent vomiting, low grade fever, abdominal pain. Parents brought her in because this has been going on for a few days and nothing they've given her has helped."

"Let's run some basic blood tests for household poisons," Foreman proposed. "She's four. She could've eaten any number of things. We could just push activated charcoal."

"Go get the lab set up. Someone friendly go get the sample," House instructed.

"Is there anything she could have eaten? Anything at all," Alice asked the parents. "Allergies?"

"She's our first child," Mrs. Mickelson said. "We keep everything locked up and out of her reach. The only thing she could have possibly gotten to is the toothpaste, but Henry checked that, and it was all still there. She's not allergic to anything but cats, and she hasn't been near any in a while."

"Dr. Chase is going to draw blood for some tests. We may end up taking an X-ray of her stomach if we don't find anything conclusive." Alice rubbed at her temples absentmindedly _. It must be something in the hospital causing this._

"Hi, Anna," Chase smiled, putting on a pair of gloves. "I'm Dr. Chase. I'm going to draw some blood to see what's wrong with you."

"Okay," the little girl said, sitting up in her bed. "Is that lady a doctor too?" She pointed at Alice, who was talking to her parents outside.

"Yeah. This might pincg a bit, but it's like a mosquito bite. You might want to hold this guy," he recommended, handing her the teddy bear that had fallen on the floor. "Does he have a name?"

"Bruce. I've had him since I was real little. Oww."

"Just a couple more seconds, and I'll get you a bandaid. Princesses or butterflies?" He set the syringe down on a tray, rolling his chair over to a drawer full of bandages.

"Princesses. Why does your voice sound funny?" she asked, watching him search for a bandage.

"Because I'm from Australia," he laughed. "It's a long way away from here. People sound different there. I've got bandaids with the redhead princess or the one with the blue dress."

"The one with red hair. Her name's Ariel. She's a mermaid and she looks like Dr. Alice. Dr. Alice's the lady talking to Mom and Dad, right?" She held her arm out for a bandaid.

"Yeah, she is. It looks like Bruce needs some stitches," Chase said, looking at a rip in the bear's side.

"But you're a doctor."

"And?"

"You're not a sturgeon," Anna objected. "Mommy is a teddy bear sturgeon. She fixes all of my stuffed animals."

"I'm a surgeon. A sturgeon is a fish. I'm not a teddy bear doctor, but I can do the same things on people. I'm sure I can sew him up." Chase grabbed a needle and some surgical thread from a cabinet.

"Can you make him talk again? He could talk before," Anna told him. "He broke a few days ago, when he ripped. Now he's hurt and can't talk."

"I'll see about that. But I'll sew him up first," Chase promised.

Alice walked in, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Mickelson. Chase was sitting by the girl's bed, busily fixing the teddy bear. "Uh, what are you doing?"

"I'm giving Bruce stitches." He said it in the most natural way in the world, as if all doctors spent their time sewing up stuffed animals.

"Okay," Alice smiled. She sat on the arm of Chase's chair, watching him work for a second before saying, "Anna, we're going to do some tests on your blood, and then probably take a few X-rays. All that means is you get to lay down while we take pictures of the inside of your stomach."

"Cool. Will that say why my stomach hurts? Because-" the little girl said, before retching and covering her blanket in her dinner.

"The blood tests came back negative for everything except excess lithium," Cameron read, closing the file of lab results. "Her mercury levels are also a little bit high, but within range."

"Differential time," House said, adding the words 'stomach pain' to the whiteboard.

Foreman leaned back in his chair. "Bad case of food poisoning. Maybe some sort of fish. That would explain the mercury."

"But not the lithium," Cameron countered.

"Lithium could be something else entirely," Foreman replied.

House raised his eyebrows. "Any ideas from the lovebirds?"

"Foreman's idea is the most likely thing. But the last thing she had to eat before this started were fries and dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets," Alice reported. "She's requested the hospital invest in some."

"Everybody lies."

"What motive would she have to lie about what she ate? And unless the parents are trying to kill her, they wouldn't be lying either."

"Munchausen by proxy is possible."

Cameron spoke up. "Unless it's alcohol poisoning. In that case, she could be lying to keep her parents from getting mad, or they could be lying to avoid the blame for being totally irresponsible. I'm going to check for blood alcohol levels." She stood up and left, heading for the lab.

"That still doesn't explain the lithium. Unless we screwed up the test," Alice said.

"Okay, redo it," House instructed. Alice stood up and left. "You two, go get ready to take some X-rays."

"Alice says the lithium is still high," Cameron reported, walking up to House. "But I've ruled out alcohol."

"Maybe they'll find something in the X-ray. You may want to talk to the parents about the possibility of stomach cancer. Better yet, go search their house. Take Foreman with you. They won't be leaving their darling firstborn child alone for a while, so the front door should be clear."

"Lay back and relax. We can put on a movie while you're here, but you'll be done before the whole thing is over," Alice told Anna as they prepared her for a round of X-rays. "What do you want to watch?"

"Do you have Aladdin?"

"Sure. Now, you've got to be careful that you don't move. We want to take a bunch of different pictures, so you'll be lying down for half an hour or so. It'll take longer if you move."

"Are you a princess?" Anna asked, careful not to move as Alice and Chase began the procedure. "You look like Ariel."

"Hmm. Well, maybe I am."

"Is Dr. Chase your handsome prince?"

Chase bit his lip, trying not to laugh. "She's definitely a princess," he told her, "but I don't know if I'm a prince."

Alice nodded. "He's my handsome prince," she assured the girl. "He just doesn't like admitting it, because I ha to kiss a frog to find him."

Anna giggled. "Don't move, princess," Chase reminded her. "Goodness, I'm in a room with two princesses. I'm honored."

"There's a battery in her stomach. My guess is it's leaking," Alice told the group back in the diagnostics meeting room. She held up some of the X-rays. "I think we can get it out pretty easily."

"Where could it have come from?" Foreman asked. "We searched the house. It's childproof. Heck, it's practically adult proof."

"The parents were careless that day, left some on the table, and she got to them," House explained. "That's what kids do."

"She says she didn't eat them before her symptoms started," Alice said. "I asked her if she had eaten anything metal, or anything too crunchy when we saw that on the X-rays. She said no."

"She's lying."

"Why would she lie, House?"

"She's a four year old," House reminded her. "They're compulsive liars and stick any little shiny things in their mouths."

Chase suddenly sat up. "Bruce."

"What?"

"Bruce. The battery came from Bruce. He's her teddy bear," he explained. "There was a tear in the bear's side. She said he couldn't talk any more. What if one of the batteries fell out when it was torn? Say it happened while she was asleep, and she swallowed the thing in her sleep. It was a button battery - they're small enough to do that. That explains everything."

House rolled his eyes, but Cameron said, "It doesn't matter how it got there. It matters if we can get it out."

"We're going to sedate her since she's so little," Alice explained to the Mickelsons. "Then it's a regular endoscopy procedure from there. We'll stick an endoscope down her throat, grab the battery, and she'll be discharged as soon as we balance her lithium levels and make sure her stomach lining hasn't been eroded."

"If everything goes well, how long will she be here?" Mr. Mickelson asked.

Alice looked over to where Chase was telling the girl what they were about to do. "If everything goes well, she'll be out tomorrow."

Chase walked into the girl's room. She was sitting in bed with Bruce (who now had a paper hat that one of the nurses had made for him) watching one of the many Disney movies Alice had found for her. "Hi Prince Chase. What's up?"

"We're going to do something called an endoscopy to get something out of your stomach. You'll be asleep for it. When you wake up," he said, measuring out a sedative in a needle, "the nurses are going to make you drink a whole lot of nasty tasting stuff. But if you're good, there will be ice cream at the end. Hold out your arm, sweetie."

Anna held out her arm. "Can Bruce come with?"

Chase gave her the injection, saying, "Of course." Anna was asleep in seconds.

The following afternoon, Anna stood by her mother as she signed release papers. The endoscopy had gone perfectly, and her lithium levels had gone down as expected. All of the doctors said goodbye, even House. "No more batteries for you or Bruce," he instructed.

"Goodbye, princess," Chase smiled, giving her a hug. "Make sure you take care of Bruce. I'm a pretty good teddy bear doctor, but I hope I don't have to operate on either one of you again."

"Are you and Princess Alice going to live happily ever after?" Anna asked, letting Chase give Bruce a hug goodbye.

He glanced over at Alice, who was signing the final paperwork. "I hope so."

They watched the girl and her parents leave before heading back to the conference room. House was erasing the board when everyone had assembled. "I'm tempted to steal some of that Vicodin," Alice told him as he handed her a cup of coffee. "My head's killing me."

"Well, we have some time off. No new cases or dying kids have come through the door yet." She blinked, trying to make sense of what he had said. The light in this room was unbearable. "Are you alright?" He turned, swinging a samurai sword like a madman.

 _No, that had to be wrong. House had a cane. I must be hallucinating._ Suddenly, everything went black.

Alice fell quickly, Chase running from where he was to try to catch her. She hit the floor with a solid THUD, House poking her with his cane as Chase checked to make sure she hasn't cracked her skull. "She's alive."

"Very helpful," Cameron spat, standing to help. "Pulse is normal."

Alice blinked slowly, Chase whispering a, "thank God." He kissed her forehead, reporting, "no fever."

"What happened?" She tried to sit up, holding on to Chase's arm for support.

"You almost attacked House, and then passed out," Foreman told her.

Chase helped her stand, put an arm around her waist, and said, "C'mon."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm admitting you."

Alice was asleep in her hospital bed, Chase holding her hand. He looked over at her, wondering what the hell could be wrong. Everything in his life had finally gotten itself in line. He was in a decent job and had an apartment that he wasn't paying an arm and a leg for. He had gotten out of a loveless marriage and met a very nice and very pretty girl at the hospital. The last month and a half had been wonderful. But now she was a patient, and everything had changed. "Maybe if you kiss sleeping beauty, she'll wake up," House proposed, walking into the room and dropping into an open chair after checking the IV drip going into her arm. "How cute are they?" he asked Foreman and Cameron, who had followed him in.

Foreman was setting up the whiteboard when they heard a faint voice. "Chase?" Alice was waking up. The group turned to see that she was slowly getting better.

"I'm right here," he told her, squeezing her hand. "I'm not leaving you."

"How sweet," House said, standing. "Symptoms: headaches, fainting. Help us out, doctor."

"Hallucinations," she added, House writing it down. "I could have sworn you were swinging a samurai sword at me earlier. Nothing else since then."

"Cool. I could use one of those. What else?"

"Umm, I was nauseous earlier, but I thought it was just the sandwich I had from the cafeteria. It tasted kind of old, but I was too busy to bother getting something else."

House added nausea to the list, though he turned to her and said, "Nausea is normal during pregnancy. The rest of your symptoms aren't."

"I'm not pregnant," she groaned.

"How do you know? Peed on a stick lately?"

"Because we haven't," Chase began, all attention turning to him as he turned slightly pinker. "Uh, we haven't slept together."

" _Damn_ , he's really committing. You'll want to hold on to this one," House nodded.

"Can we stop gossiping and start helping her?" Cameron asked.

"If you insist, you can go first."

"I'd recommend blood tests to look for poisoning. Full tox screen."

House turned to Foreman and said, "Saliva test for _E. coli,_ since she thinks she ate something, and I'd also check the cafeteria."

"Chase, you're up."

He shook his head. "I'm not leaving her."

"You're making me do extra work? Then you're taking my clinic hours," House told him.

"Fine. I'll take them as soon as she's okay. But for now, I'm staying here," he bartered.

The rest of the group filed out of the door to prepare for their tests. "Chase, you don't have to do this." Alice looked over at him after watching the others go.

"I want to stay with you," he told her. "I'm not here as a doctor. I'm here as your boyfriend, for moral support. I'll at least give you some company."

"Knock, knock," Dr. Cuddy said, walking into the room. "I hear you're our newest differential, Dr. Hamilton. I'm on my way to go yell at House, but I thought I'd stop by to say I hope that you're better soon. Your clinic hours will be written off until you get better. I'll make House take a few extra. Goodness knows he needs them."

"Thank you," Alice smiled. She blinked, and the image of a floating duck behind Cuddy disappeared. Cuddy herself walked away, and Alice turned to Chase. "So, what's up? I've got plenty of time to see you now that I'm stuck here."

"Well, I started dating this gorgeous girl a little over a month ago, and now she's sick," he said, kissing her cheek. "She makes me much happier than the loveless marriage-"

Cameron walked into the room and swabbed part of Alice's arm, getting ready to draw blood. "House isn't working," she reported. "Cuddy's chewing him out for skipping clinic hours, but before that, he was doing yoga in his office."

"Glad to see he's so concerned about his team," Alice rolled her eyes. "And he's left you and Foreman on sampling duty?"

"Yeah. Foreman went down to the cafeteria to investigate your lunch." She held out a cotton swab. "Open your mouth."

When Cameron had left for the lab, Alice turned back to Chase. "You were married?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "To her, actually. I thought proposing would save the relationship. It just made it suck even more. We were in counseling a month after the wedding. We spent two years like that, until we finally realized that it couldn't be saved. She was sleeping with other guys. I'm still pretty sure House was one of them. But that was just a start. She never really loved me."

"I was going to get married," Alice confessed. "We were in love. I'd gotten my engagement ring an hour before the car crash. I was the only one to make it out alive. I guess we both have pretty bad love lives."

"Hey, there's hope," Chase reminded her. "I have you."

"The good news is, you also have _E. coli_ poisoning." Foreman walked back into the room, holding a piece of paper. "I found the leftovers from your lunch in the lab. Somebody had spilled a sample and not cleaned it up, and when you set your sandwich down, it got infected. I've cleaned everything up since, but you're going to spend a whole lot of time with your head in a plastic bucket soon."

Alice groaned, Chase asking, "What about the hallucinations and headaches? That's not _E. coli."_

 _"_ Cameron's still running blood tests. The bacteria could have set off some sort of underlying condition. We'll know in a little while." Foreman headed out of the room.

"There's got to be something else," Alice said, looking paler than usual. "Chase, what if-"

"You're going to be fine," he assured her, giving her a hug. "You've got some great doctors. I'd trust them with my life."

"Chase, I-" She coughed, then promptly threw up all over him. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." He handed her a bucket, standing up gingerly. "I'll be back in a bit. Going to go get some more clothes and a shower. I won't be long, babe."

A few minutes later, Cameron walked back in with a clipboard. "We didn't find any signs of infection in your blood. House wants you to answer a few questions, though. He says he's got a hunch. Chase says he'll be back in in half an hour or so. He went to go take a shower. He's not mad at you." Alice answered her questions in between bouts of throwing up.

"That's good," Alice said, handing the clipboard back. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Did you and Chase really get married?"

"Yeah. We shouldn't have. At all. It was a huge mistake, but we don't hold anything against each other. I know what you're asking," Cameron smiled. "I don't see anything wrong with you dating him. I'm not offended or jealous or anything like that. I'm glad you two are happy. Look, I've got to give this back to House," she held up the questionairre, "but I'll be back to check in on you. We can talk more once you're done reliving your lunch."

Chase got back quickly, his hair still dripping. Alice was lying in bed, watching TV. "Did I miss anything?"

"He is not the father!" Alice exclaimed. "No, nothing but trashy TV. Cameron came by to run a few more tests. Nothing yet."

"How do you feel?" He sat down beside her and took her hand, eyes full of concern.

"The sandwich tasted better going down than coming back up. I probably look like a wreck. I'm tired and just want to go to sleep and have this be over when I wake up. But it won't be, and I'll throw up again before I can close my eyes. I'm sorry about that, again."

"It's okay. It wasn't your fault."

Cameron knocked on the door, walking in with her clipboard again. "Chase, House is looking for you."

"I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?" He kissed Alice's cheek before heading to House's office.

Cameron sat down with a sigh. "House is going to send him to search your place. Foreman and I already figured it out, but we wanted Chase out of the room. Foreman thought it was ergotism from the grain in the sandwich. Wilson bet on a brain tumor. But I took another look at your blood tests. You were being poisoned in small amounts."

Alice blinked. "I'd have bet on an illness... The headaches, the hallucinations, that's all part of it?"

"Add in some nasty bacteria in your stomach, and you've got an explanation for everything." Cameron stood and attached a bag of fluid to her IV drip. "This should help. When the bacteria has passed, we can flush the rest of the poison out of you. For now, it'll have to be through an IV, the same way we're keeping you hydrated."

"Is someone trying to kill me? Who the hell-"

Cameron sighed. "House."

"What?!"

"It was a test. He didn't give you anything that would be lethal, just a couple of things that would be very annoying. He wanted to see how you would react, and frankly, I think he wanted to see how Chase would react. It was all a test."

"You're not telling Chase?" Alice asked as Cameron sat back down.

"We figured you'd tell him if you wanted to. Meanwhile, we'll tell him it was just something you ate. If we told him now, he'd probably choke House. He loves you," she assured her. "He loves you more than he's loved anyone, me included. I can tell. He looks at you like he's never seen anyone as amazing. I... I never got that look. You're lucky."

"Look, I think you should stay with me for a few days," Chase said. Alice had just been released, and was lying down on the couch in House's office.

"I'm okay. It was just a bunch of bad bacteria."

"It would make me feel better. I'd be able to cook you dinner and keep you company." Chase perched on House's desk.

"Alright, but we've got to stop by my apartment first. Unless I'm wearing your clothes for the next few days, and you know what House would say about that."


	5. Chapter 5

"Attention, Dr. Gray, please remain where you are. Dr. Cuddy is looking for you." The seemingly normal announcement over the PA system launched the hospital staff into action. "Attention, Dr. Gray, please remain where you are. Dr. Cuddy is looking for you."

In her office, Cuddy locked the door, closed the blinds, and waited, typing out message after message on her laptop, dispatching security and giving instructions. The diagnostics team, which had been meeting in their conference room, was forced to crowd into the closest chemical storage closet, which had just enough room to let all of them sit on the floor comfortably. "What's going on?" Alice asked, looking confused as Foreman locked the door.

"We don't just call codes sometimes, in order to keep the patients calm. We call doctors with color names. That's why you've never met a Dr. Gray or Green here. They won't hire any. It's a hidden hospital policy," House explained. "And by saying that Cuddy wants him or her to stay where they are, that means we're supposed to remain stationary. Someone's gotten in with a weapon, and we're on stationary lockdown."

"So we stay here until they call an all-clear," Foreman added. "The last one of these only lasted an hour."

"I forgot, you didn't do hospital work before," Chase said, sitting down beside her. "We've got time to kill."

"Hey, what are you guys doing for Thanksgiving?" Alice asked, leaning into Chase's side. "We were thinking of inviting all of you guys over for dinner."

"Sudden change of topic, but thank you," Wilson smiled. He'd been there bothering House, in response to some sort of plot House had begun weeks before. When the code had been called, he'd been forced to follow them into the close quarters. "Whose place?"

Chase raised an eyebrow, saying, "Ours." There was a pause before he turned to Alice and asked, "You didn't tell them, did you?" She shook her head. "We've moved in together."

"Congratulations," Cameron smiled, folding her arms.

"And you still haven't hit that?" House leaned over to ask. Cameron punched him in the arm.

"Anyway, we were planning on having all of you guys over. You can bring a date if you want. We'll make the turkey, and everyone can just bring sides or dessert," Alice said. "I'd say we shoot dinner for around five-thirty, so we're actually eating near six." There were a flurry of text messages before everyone confirmed that they would be there. "What day is it?" Alice asked, turning to Chase.

"It's Tuesday. And I love you." Cameron looked away, desperately trying to forget the dozens of times she'd heard that.

Alice smiled. "And you're cute. Then we have eight days to get the apartment cleaned and everything bought."

An hour later, Alice had fallen asleep on Chase's shoulder. He put an arm around her, turned to the others, and mused, "She never says that."

"What?" Wilson asked, yawning in the corner he had taken over.

"She never says 'I love you'. She'll always answer like she did earlier."

"Oh God, it's bad enough I'm stuck here with all of you. Now I have to hear about Chase's crappy love life," House rolled his eyes, pushing Wilson a bit further over with his cane.

Foreman offered sound advice. "Maybe she's just not comfortable saying it yet. Maybe she takes relationships slow."

"It's been six months."

"And?"

"And horny-as-all-hell Chase has managed to keep it in his pants for six months. This is amazing," House muttered.

"I expected by now she would have-"

Cameron interrupted him. "Maybe she has a harder time trusting people enough to open up to them. People are a lot more complex than you think, Chase."

"Of all people, she should trust me."

Wilson leaned back, almost knocking over a glass bottle. "Let her have her time. She's a wonderful girl, and I can tell she adores you."

"She's moved in with you already, for heaven's sake," Foreman added. "Just let her take her time."

Alice stirred as everyone else was well into a hand of poker, whispering into Chase's ear, "Hey, you know what? It's Tuesday. I love you," before kissing his cheek and stretching.

"You heard? Fold," Chase said.

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. I'm just glad that it means something."

"House, you're up," Wilson nodded.

Thanksgiving morning dawned early, frost covering the windows of the home that Chase and Alice now shared. Alice rolled over in bed, kissed Chase good morning, and then got up to make coffee and check that the turkey had defrosted. Chase had just begun to fall back asleep when he heard her scream. He jumped up, running out to see what had happened.

Alice was standing there, staring at the sofa. House was in the process of sitting up, as if he'd napped there for a while before she found him. "What the fuck, House?! You can't just break in-"

Chase wrapped Alice in his arms, saying, "I thought you had fallen or something had happened or-"

"I'm just a bit early," House said, leaning back on the couch. "Chase, you should put a shirt on. It's cold out. You don't want to get sick."

"You're seven hours early," Alice grumbled, heading into the kitchen and switching the coffee pot on.

"Black, no sugar."

"I didn't offer you coffee."

"Oh, babe, just let him have some. Maybe it'll warm up that cold heart of his," Chase joked, coming back downstairs, this time with a sweatshirt on.

"Okay," Alice smiled malevolently, turning to their guest. "If House is going to stay, I'm putting him to work. The first thing after breakfast is starting the laundry. All the napkins and tablecloths need to be washed. Then he can clean the guest bathroom and vacuum the floor, Windex the windows, set the table, get out all of the snack platters and run all of the good china through the dishwasher. If he finishes early, I'll find more work for him."

"Well, then what are we going to do?" Chase asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

Alice leaned against the counter, her face blank. "Have hot, passionate sex in every room of this house." House raised an eyebrow, Alice laughing. "I'm spending my morning in the kitchen, with my hand up a turkey's ass. You're going to help House clean this place so he doesn't destroy everything."

"So," House said, wiping off the guest bathroom sink while Chase collected towels in a laundry basket, "is it true you two haven't..."

"Had hot, passionate sex in every room of this house?" Chase set the basket down. "Yeah. She just hasn't felt like it."

"And you stick around?" House leaned on the countertop, pointing out that, "You've changed, Chase."

"I love her." Chase picked up the basket again. "Sex isn't everything."

"Honey, where's the - never mind, I found it," Alice called from the kitchen.

"She's hot."

"And she's very sweet," Chase added. "She's also brilliant and makes me laugh. I'll let her set her own time. When she's comfortable-"

House did some thinking, finally coming up with, "Was she ever abused?"

"What? House, how can you just ask-"

"Answer me."

"Even if she had been, it doesn't change how I feel about her. And if something bad did happen in her past, she'd tell me when she's ready. I trust her, and I love her. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go run this to the laundry room."

The next few hours were spent in a frenzy of cooking and cleaning, Chase and Alice listening to House's remarks. Alice kept House out of the kitchen, and Chase made sure that he didn't destroy anything.

The doorbell rang a few minutes after three, Alice opening it to find Wilson holding a Tupperware container. She brought him inside, setting the dish down in the kitchen as he hung his coat up in the front hall. Before she could offer him a drink, a loud question came from the living room. "Is the CD you want behind or in front of Chase's porn stash?"

"House is here already," she explained. Raising her voice, Alice added, "Never mind, come over here and annoy Dr. Wilson. James, Chase was getting out of the shower a few minutes ago. He'll be down soon. Do you want anything to drink?"

"Water's fine."

House limped into the room, saying, "I'll take one too. I just put the football game on. I think it's more Thanksgiving-y than 'Babes from Brazil'."

Alice rolled her eyes, checking the timer on the oven as she found some glasses. Chase came downstairs, saying, "Honey, I made sure House didn't put hair dye in your shampoo. Hello, Dr. Wilson."

Two hours and a few bottles of wine later, Alice, Cameron, and Cuddy stood in the kitchen while House, Foreman, and Wilson were collectively trying to explain football to Chase. "The pies you made look delicious, Allison. Excuse me, ladies," Alice said, pulling the turkey out of the oven and searching for a carving knife. "Cuddy, would you mind moving that pot there that's about to boil over?"

"Lisa," Cuddy smiled, moving the pot to a cold burner. "My first name's Lisa."

"Cameron, would you mind working on the potatoes? I've got to get this tray of rolls into the oven." Alice turned around to see Cameron staring into her wine glass. "Cameron?"

"It's a miracle, isn't it? You walk into the hospital with a dying aunt and meet the love of your life. I worked so hard to find someone, and nothing's ever worked." She sat down on the kitchen floor. "I can't believe it."

Cuddy crouched down next to her, careful not to get in the way of the oven door. "Allison, you'll find some-"

"Henry and I broke up last night. And this morning I heard Wilson and Foreman talking about Chase and… Oh, never mind. Nothing ever seems to work. "

"I know, I heard them too. But you know what? You'll find someone you were meant for."

"Here," Alice offered, handing Cameron a cup of tea. It seemed like a strange sort of peace offering, an apology of sorts. "I know you and Chase weren't meant for each other. Neither were you and Henry. But one day you'll find someone that you'll love to death even when you fight with them. Someone who respects your decisions and loves you for who you are. Then you'll know."

Dinner itself went well. No one stormed off after being offended horrendously. No one fought over politics. House behaved himself, and no one got too drunk. Cameron was fine after a cup of tea and a pep talk, and Chase couldn't stop asking questions about football and why it was so damn important to Americans. People began heading out soon after dessert and coffee.

Wilson, who had fallen asleep in an armchair, was the last one there when Chase went outside to carry out the trash and bid Foreman a good night. Alice shook him awake. "What did I miss?"

"Not much," she told him, clearing coffee mugs off the table. "House telling stories, Cuddy actually laughing, Foreman telling jokes. There's extra pie, if you want to take some home."

"Can I talk to you? While Chase is outside?" Wilson leaned against the kitchen counter.

"Sure. Something wrong?" She watched him speak as she stacked more dishes in the sink, checking to see that the dishwasher was running.

"No, I just wanted to let you know that I've heard Chase is already talking about marrying you. I haven't heard anything serious, but I thought you deserved a fair warning. He-" he paused as Chase walked back into the house. "The patient went home in good condition anyway. Serious injury to the lungs, but we managed to get all of the cancer out. She always calls near Thanksgiving."

"That's great news," Alice smiled, setting a stack of dessert plates in the sink. "I've gotten a few Christmas cards from patients, but none that call every year on the day I saved them. That's amazing."

"Yeah. Look, it was nice talking to you, but I should be heading home. Goodnight, Alice." He gave her a hug, accepting the foil-wrapped plate of pie that she handed him. "Goodnight, Chase. Thank you so much for dinner." They shook hands, and Wilson put on his coat.

"Drive carefully. It's starting to snow," Chase told him.

"Thanks. Goodnight, guys. Thanks again for having me."

When the door had closed, both of them sighed in relief. "No one died," Chase said.

"House didn't piss anyone off too severely," Alice added. "No one got stabbed with a fork. I didn't burn anything. Wow."

"I think we just had a normal holiday."


	6. Chapter 6

Alice walked out of the clinic room that she had been working in almost all day. Since they were without a new patient, House's diagnostics team was commissioned to the clinic for Christmas Eve. House wasn't too happy about it, and was making his displeasure known by banging on the walls of the room he was assigned to. Alice had put up with him complaining in Morse code for long enough. "Go bother Cuddy," she said, sticking her head into his room. House sat there alone, balancing his cane on his foot. "Have you seen a patient all afternoon?"

"I decided to take a break after diagnosing that last guy with sciatica." He switched off the game he was watching on his phone, sitting up in his chair.

Alice sighed, walking into the room. "That was three hours ago."

"Well, then I went off to get some coffee and bother Wilson. I checked up on the others too. Cameron's got you beat by two patients."

"I don't care how many patients we win by. It isn't a competition. Anyway, I came to ask if you were going to the Christmas party." House made a face. Alice sweetened the deal, knowing that Cuddy wanted them all there. "One of the nurses is hiding alcohol in the janitor's closet."

"Fine."

The door opened, Cuddy storming in. "We have four more patients before the clinic is closing. House, you're dealing with the first one. I know you've been sitting around for hours."

"Ugh."

"Hurry up." Cuddy grabbed the last patient's chart and headed out the door.

Alice began to follow her out to the clinic, but turned to House and said, "I've got twenty bucks in my wallet. Most interesting - and real - diagnosis wins."

A few hours later, Alice was circulating the party, a cup of eggnog in her hand. Chase hugged her from behind, walking into her conversation with Wilson and a nurse from the ER. "Hey. Sorry I'm late. I got stuck in the clinic with five-year-old twins with strep." He kissed her cheek, adding, "I thought you didn't like eggnog."

"That's okay. And I don't, but half of this isn't really eggnog. There's coffee too. Reta can spike them for you."

"Alice," Cameron walked up as Chase went to find a drink, asking, "Can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?"

"Sure," Alice nodded, promising the others, "I'll be right back."

Cameron brought her over to where a short, balding man stood, talking to a woman with brown hair and striking cheekbones. "This is Chris Taub and Thirteen Hadley," Cameron said. They shook Alice's hand. "They're taking over my position. I'm moving to Chicago permanently."

This was the first Alice had heard of it. "Is it because-"

"It's not your fault. It's just... I headed back there when Chase and I split up. I found a job. When I came back here to get some stuff, House wrangled me into a few more cases. I wasn't intending to stay. I start at a hospital a few minutes outside of Chicago on January 2nd," Cameron told her. "I just wanted to let you know that it isn't your fault, and introduce you to the new team. It'll be you, Chase, Foreman, Taub and Thirteen. And House, of course."

"Cuddy approved of such a big team?"

"I won't be here for long," Thirteen told her dejectedly. "I," she paused, sighing before confessing to them that, "I have Huntington's. It's already beginning to show, at least to me, but I'm unofficially helping out while I still can."

"If you guys need anywhere to spend Christmas, we'll be glad to have you," Alice said immediately. "I've invited a few other people. Cuddy, House, Wilson, and Foreman. And Cameron, of course. But I'll be glad to have you guys over too."

"Thanks," Taub said. "I wouldn't have gone anywhere anyway. It's just me at home, and I don't do the Christmas thing."

Alice smiled. "We eat a lot of food and sit around talking. That's as 'Christmas-y' as we're planning on getting. Thirteen?"

"Sure. I don't have any other plans. Want me to bring anything?"

Alice stood talking to Taub, Thirteen, and Cameron for a while. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Wilson and Foreman talking to Chase rather seriously, like they were conspiring or going over instructions. Even House was getting involved, which was a surprise. She smiled, shaking her head. Hopefully whatever they were being so serious about wasn't work. Heaven knows they talked work a lot already.

On the drive home, Alice was watching Chase drive in silence. _I'm so lucky. He's lovely. He's such a nice person. What the hell did I do to deserve this?_

"Why are you staring at me?" He looked over at her when they stopped at a red light.

Alice smiled at the sight of him bathed in the yellow streetlight, saying, "No reason. You're just pretty handsome."

"I love you." He looked away, continuing to drive as the light turned green. "I can actually see living with you."

"I already live with you," she reminded him. "How much booze did you have tonight?"

"No, I mean, I can see," he took a breath, knowing the risk the rest of the sentence carried, "I can see spending my life with you." He rushed to explain that, "Cameron and I… I should've seen that I couldn't live with her. We argued about stupid things all the time, and I tried to save it, but… that should never have happened."

"You know, I can see it too." Chase smiled, sighing in relief. "I love you, Chase. And I love being together with you."

The next morning, Alice woke to see Princeton-Plainsboro covered in a blanket of snow. She rolled over in bed, noticing that Chase had piled extra blankets on top of her in the middle of the night. "You looked cold," he explained, his eyes still closed.

"Good thing I have you to keep me warm." She snuggled closer to him. "Merry Christmas, Chase."

"You're right. Merry Christmas." He opened his eyes, Alice smiling at the brilliant blue that she loved so much. "Want to go open presents?"

"But I'm comfortable here." She gave him a kiss, sitting up and realizing how cold the house was. "I'd be happy just to put a bow on your head and just keep you."

 _This is a good sign. She might be joking though. But she's happy. This is a good sign. Don't screw it up. Grab a sweatshirt and go downstairs with her. Don't look nervous._

She and Chase opened the presents they had stacked in front of the plastic Christmas tree in their living room. When Alice stood to start making breakfast, Chase cleared his throat. "Hey, honey, I think you missed one."

He leaned over, grabbing a small box that had been stashed far behind the tree in the corner. Alice knew what was happening a second before he said anything. "I know it hasn't been too long," Chase began, biting his lip. "But I love you. And I know this is cliché, doing this on Christmas morning and all, but," he opened the box, dropping to one knee. "Will you marry me?"

Alice hugged him, slipping the ring into her finger. "Of course."

Chase stood up, giving her a kiss. "Merry Christmas, Alice."

That evening, Chase's house was full of people, House arriving late but bringing dessert. Alice had sense enough to feed some to a stray cat before serving it, just to be sure House hadn't planned on drugging them. Over dinner, Taub asked what was on all of their minds as soon as Alice hugged them hello. They'd all noticed the ring on her finger, but had been waiting for someone else to ask. "So it's official then? You're getting married?"

"Over summer," Alice beamed. "You're all invited. We're having the wedding in Princeton-Plainsboro, so you won't have to go far."

"Congratulations," Wilson smiled. "I've got a flower girl if you need one. My niece just turned six, and I'm sure she'd love it."

"Thanks. That would be great."

Chase got up to get another bottle of wine while House began discussing planning a bachelor party. "No way," he yelled from the kitchen. "You almost killed me last time."

"Fine, I'll let Wilson and Foreman be in charge," House conceded. "But Thirteen picks the strippers."

Thirteen smiled from the end of the table. "Awesome."

"Just don't almost kill my fiancé and you can do whatever you guys want," Alice said, remembering the story Chase had told her about the party House had planned before he married Cameron. "Have fun."

"Huh. Cameron looks like a prude compared to this one," House mumbled.

"House," Wilson warned.

"Chase, are you okay?" Alice asked, standing up. Chase hadn't come back from his trip to grab another bottle of wine. "I'll be right back."

When she walked into the kitchen, Chase was standing by the sink, looking out the window. "Sorry. I was just thinking. I'm falling asleep on my feet."

"No more wine for you," Alice smiled, kissing his cheek and heading back out to the party with him.


	7. Chapter 7

Chase leaned against the wall, a glass of champagne in his hand as he watched Alice and Taub go spinning across the dance floor. Although he hadn't felt too well that afternoon, the hospital's annual New Year's Eve charity gala was something he frequented every year. Usually it was to pick up a date for New Year's, but this time Alice had wanted to go, insisting that it was good for the hospital and would reflect well on the diagnostics department.

He knew that Taub thought she was pretty, but he trusted Alice, who was now dancing with Wilson and laughing. Chase sneezed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. His chest felt heavy, and it was getting stuffy in the ballroom. He grabbed another glass of champagne when a waiter walked by with a tray of fresh glasses. Alice walked over a few minutes later. "Come on and dance with me," she pleaded, her face still shining from being whirled around the floor. "Just once?"

"Babe, I don't feel too well." Chase set his glass down as Alice put a hand to his forehead.

"You're running a bit of a fever, but nothing terrible," she said after kissing his forehead to make sure. "Come on. I'll take care of you."

They walked into the nearly empty hallway outside of the ballroom, House watching them go from where he sat playing poker with Thirteen, Cuddy, and Wilson. Alice sat Chase down in a clinic room, searching for a thermometer. "Here." She handed him a thermometer, checking his pupils as he waited for it to beep. "Your eyes look fine. But your temperature is up slightly. Any other complaints, sir?"

"I'm sneezing a lot. And I'm really warm."

"You've probably got a cold. Take off your jacket if you're warm." Chase shed his jacket, Alice putting the thermometer back into a drawer.

"Now I'm cold."

"Chills means it might be the flu. Or you may have just had a lot to drink, and that's why you don't feel good." She clicked the lock on the clinic room's door, Chase watching her curiously.

"I've only had three glasses. I can handle a lot more than-" He paused as Alice moved to sit on his lap.

"You were saying?" She started unbuttoning his shirt, raising an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with me, doctor?" Chase smiled, kissing his fiancée, his hands on her hips as they leaned back on the exam table. "Oh."

"Babe, what's this?" Alice asked, becoming suddenly serious. She stood up, straightened her dress, and pointed to his chest. "You've got some sort of rash. That's not a new suit, is it?"

"No." Chase put a hand to his neck, feeling the raised bumps. "We don't have new laundry detergent or anything either."

"That's not a cold. We'd better admit you, just to be on the safe side." Alice brought him to a bed, donning her doctor's coat and unbuttoning Chase's shirt again. A bunch of raised bumps formed a smear down his back. "That's new."

"I wish you were doing this under different circumstances," Chase joked. "It was a lot better with you sitting-"

"You haven't done anything different lately, have you? This could be something you picked up in the clinic."

"I was there almost all afternoon yesterday." Chase began coughing, not stopping until he had coughed up a large was of phlegm.

"That's it, I'm paging someone."

Alice was listening to Chase's heartbeat when Foreman, Taub, and Thirteen walked in. "What the hell happened to you?" Thirteen asked, looking at the red marks all over him.

"That's what we want to know. He was on clinic duty all afternoon yesterday. Nothing else was different between the two of us. We've eaten the same things and been in the same places," Alice told them. "I've got some blood tests running, and I want one of you to check out his heart. Something sounds off." Alice headed off to the lab, running back and saying, "You've gone anemic. And you're sweating buckets."

"Okay, so sweats, anemia, fever, coughing and sneezing, heaviness in the chest all point to pneumonia," Foreman concluded. "The rash isn't typical, but…"

Thirteen moved to start an IV, but Taub cocked his head, looking at Chase. "Something doesn't seem right to me. You haven't been outside a lot, have you?"

"No. That would've driven pneumonia to manifest quickly, right? Oh God, pass me that bucket again."

The others kept talking as Chase started coughing again. When he finally sat up, Alice gasped. Chase's eyes had turned red, with a few white spots remaining in what should have been the whites. Even the normal blue was cloudy. "You ruptured some blood vessels in your eyes."

"He didn't cough that hard," Foreman shook his head, looking at Chase's eyes. "This is Roth's spot. That's the white we're seeing."

"That means what you heard with his heart... Infective endocarditis on top of pneumonia," Thirteen said. "I'll start Vancomycin and Ceftriaxone."

"What connects the two?"

"Could be the onset of meningitis. Ostler's triad," Taub proposed.

"We'd see - blood pressure's dropping."

"Not significantly," Foreman stopped them. "It's still in acceptable range."

"Can someone figure out what the hell is wrong with me?" Chase asked from the bed, coughing again.

Alice took his hand, promising, "We'll figure it out. It's going to be okay."

"BP is down, but heart rate is up. Think that's significant?" Taub wondered.

Alice and Thirteen shared a look. "He's going into shock," Thirteen told the others. "This is sepsis. We're already late on the uptake. I'll start the fluids and broad-spectrum antibiotics."

"Pneumonia, endocarditis, and sepsis," Chase mumbled, blinking slowly.

"Ssh," Alice whispered. "She gave you some stuff to put you out for a little while. Relax. It'll be fine."

"Mm hmm.. Fine.. Love you, babe." Chase was knocked out in a few seconds, allowing them to talk freely.

Alice turned to see the other doctors clumped near the door. "What's wrong?"

"Have you kissed him in the last 24 hours?" Foreman asked.

"What? Yes." Realization flooded into her eyes, Alice cursing as she looked back at Chase. "Fuck, I'm exposed too?"

"There's only one thing it could be," Taub said. "I just paged Cuddy. We have to quarantine you two, maybe all of the gala. He's got MRSA."

"Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus," House said from behind the glass wall of the room Chase, Alice, and the rest of the team were in. "Nasty stuff. Cuddy has the ballroom secured. Anyone showing signs in the next couple of hours will be moved up here with you. I'm going to go take a nap in my office."

He limped away, Thirteen asking through her face mask, "We're stuck here?"

Foreman nodded, donning a mask himself. "We've got the second most likely amount of exposure. Plus someone has got to keep Chase from dying. Alice's almost guaranteed to get it," She waved from her chair, where she had an IV line pumping her blood full of antibiotics. "But we're going to monitor her to see if the drug cocktail can kill it before it can take much hold. We've got to stay in here and keep doctoring."

Taub turned on the TV, where the ball was getting ready to drop in Time Square. "Ten minutes until the new year," the announcer yelled over the noise. He switched it off, knowing that talking would pass the time better.

"Last New Year's, I was stuck in an airport," Thirteen told them. "I was laid over on a flight to California because the airport in Chicago was snowed in."

Foreman leaned against the wall. "I was stuck here. We had a lady who was bleeding almost as fast as we could pump blood in."

When the clock in the room struck midnight, a few half-hearted wishes of "Happy New Year" were offered. Alice kissed Chase's forehead, hoping he would live to be able to enjoy the new year.

"Your turn," Taub told Foreman. Their game of Truth-or-Dare had begun when Wilson was sent into the room after Cuddy found out that he had been dancing with Alice and talking to Chase. Chase himself had woken up and was claiming to feel slightly better. Thirteen, on the other hand, had fallen asleep sitting on the floor. The Truth-or-Dare Queen was passed out, having had a lot to drink and no sleep.

"Truth," Foreman answered, thinking he had picked the safer option.

"Okay, hmm... When you two were together, did you and Thirteen ever have a threesome?"

"No. Whose turn is it?"

"Mine," Alice said from her perch on Chase's bed. "Dare me."

"Kiss Thirteen."

"Okay." Alice stood up, careful not to trip on Chase's IV line. She crouched next to where Thirteen slept and kissed her to the silent applause of the others. "Wilson, you're up next. Truth or dare?"

"Truth," Wilson said immediately, thinking back on the time he was caught stealing from the cafeteria's cash register in a game of Truth-or-Dare.

Alice sat back on Chase's bed. "Would you kiss a guy for a hundred bucks?"

"Sure. I'll always accept money."

"You whore," Chase laughed, beginning to cough. Someone passed him a bucket, and a few minutes later, he emerged announcing, "Still not coughing up my lungs. Good." He took a drink of water before saying, "It's my turn. I'll take a truth, since I can't really get up and do anything daring."

Wilson folded his arms, consulting with the others. "What should I ask with this great opportunity?"

A voice from across the room asked, "Have you and Alice ever had sex here at the hospital?" Thirteen was awake and awaiting an answer.

"We probably would have if I hadn't sneezed all over her and noticed I was covered in these weird lesions," Chase admitted. "Your turn."

When House came by an hour later, Thirteen stood to meet him at the small airlock box used for passing medicines in and out of the room. "He's up and seems to be improving. Alice needs her second round of antibiotics but otherwise, she seems fine."

"That's because the cultures came back positive for MRSA. Anything else to report?" House passed through the second bag of antibiotic fluid.

"Yeah, one more thing." She took the bag, flashed him, and walked back towards where the others were watching to make sure she carried out her dare.

"Interesting," House nodded, limping away.

Thirteen walked back over, hooking up Alice's IV line. "Hopefully this will be the second of three. If you get worse, I'll need more, but everything is looking pretty good now." She turned to Chase, saying, "Your turn. Pick your poison."

"Dare, but a proactive one that I can do later." Alice took his hand again, careful not to press on his IV line.

"Okay," Thirteen smiled. "On your first day back to work, you have to wear a pair of Alice's underwear. The sexier the better. And you have to prove it to us."

"Deal," he laughed.

Chase had been improving steadily for hours when Cuddy came by to visit. Alice stepped over the others, who were asleep on the floor or in chairs. She and Chase were the only ones awake, talking quietly and watching to make sure the others didn't start showing symptoms in their sleep. "How is everyone?"

"They're doing fine. Tired of being cooped up, but we're going to start releasing people you and Chase didn't have direct come in contact with in about an hour." Cuddy yawned, adding, "They're pretty pleased with that. Everyone you two touched or could have coughed on is in a different room. No one is showing any symptoms yet. And we've contacted all of Chase's clinic patients. We found the source of the infection, and he's doing well. He should be out in the morning with the last group of guests, if nothing changes. How are you guys?"

"Chase is doing better. I feel fine, and everyone else hasn't shown any symptoms yet. We've been taking turns going into the bathroom, stripping down, and checking for rashes. We all have individual thermometers, all labeled by charts of our temperatures. We're going by hour." She looked down at her watch. "It's almost time to wake up Wilson and begin the routine all over again."

"I think it's safe to say you can check everything every two hours now," Cuddy told her, checking her watch. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Chase is going to need another bag of IV antibiotics soon. And can we have a box of doughnuts and some coffee? Everyone is going to be hungry when they wake up."

Cuddy nodded, heading away only to be replaced by House, who pulled up a chair. "How's he doing?"

"He's getting better," Alice sighed. "Thank goodness. Everyone else is doing okay. I think we can safely move them out in the morning, as long as they stay monitored for the next 48 hours."

"I'll get Cuddy to seal off the hall so they can get their own rooms. Do you want one?"

"I'd like to wait with Chase, if that's okay."

"You really do love him," House mused.

"Of course I do. I'm marrying the guy."

"Did the playboy ever tell you what he did a few years back?" House asked, miming shooting himself in the head.

Alarmed, Alice began to ask, "He tried to- no, he'll tell me when he wants to."

"It's not like you don't have secrets," House said. "How'd he react?"

"I haven't told him anything yet. I figure I will when he gets better. He doesn't need any more stress now."


	8. Chapter 8

Alice and Chase were given the week off after they were released from the hospital, on Cuddy's insistence. Chase was still exhausted, and Alice let him sleep most of the day. When he was awake, all he did was eat and say that he was still tired. She'd manage to catch up on household chores and wedding planning, sometimes waking Chase up to spend time with him and make sure he was alright.

"Honey, there's something you should know if we're going to get married," he told her two nights after he was allowed to go home. He switched off the television and turned to face her, Alice closing her laptop to listen. "A few years ago, we had this patient. He was a dictator who was going to massacre a huge group of people if he made it home. I... I switched blood samples and made sure that the team diagnose him incorrectly. I killed him on purpose. I couldn't go near where he stayed for a long time. I regret it, but I'd do it again."

Alice said nothing for a second, before taking his hand and asking, "What was his name?"

"Dibala."

"I heard about that case, about how he died despite the team doing everything they could." She paused for a second, seeing how terrible he felt. "What did you do?"

"I went to Cuddy, to a priest, to my wife. That's what finally split us up. It was bad before, but Dibala ended it. She wanted to kill him. But when I did… that was the last straw. She said I was a monster, that House had warped me beyond repair. I went to a priest, to all sorts of them. Nothing helped. I still sometimes think about it when I'm operating."

"If we're telling secrets, there's something I have to tell you," Alice sighed. "The reason I'd left medicine to begin with, the reason I went into forensics, was because I had killed someone. I was working in California, and this businessman showed up. I found out he had been abusing his wife and kids - they were terrified of him, and he'd even killed of one of them and gotten away with it - but he had a bunch of connections in the crime world. Everyone who could've said something was afraid to do it. I put a bubble in his IV, attributed the heart attack that resulted to his disease since he had already had two that he could've died from, and moved on. But people kept driving by my house, leaving warnings and stuff like that. So I moved and changed my name and got a new job. My real name was Valerie. Alice is my middle name. I've always liked it better. I should have told you earlier, Chase. Only House knows that I'm not… me. I'm a terrible person. I'm sorry."

"It is you," Chase said, pulling her close to him. "You're still the same person. You just had a different name. I'll still call you my wife. As long as you pick a name and add 'Chase' at the end, I'll be happy."

"You're sure?"

"We all have our secrets." He rested his chin on top of her head, adding, "I'm glad you're okay with mine. A lot of people wouldn't be. A lot of people would want me in jail."

"You had a good reason. What you did saved hundreds of lives."

"I still dream about it sometimes."

"So do I. You never really get over it, Chase. Believe me, I get it."

Alice signed them both in on their first day back, since Chase had been paged to go down to surgery. She took a seat in the diagnostics conference room, Thirteen handing her a folder. "Our latest guy came in yesterday with abdominal pain and began vomiting blood in the clinic. We had to add in tachycardia last night. Foreman and Taub are on a home search, and I'm keeping him stable for now. How are you and Chase doing?"

"Much better. No one else got sick?" She scanned the case file which Thirteen had summed up.

"No, it looks like he was an isolated case. Oh, shit." She had accidentally dropped a coffee mug onto the floor, where it shattered. Alice jumped up and started helping her collect shards of porcelain. "Don't tell anyone about that. They'll blame it on the Huntington's and say I'm getting worse."

As Alice was trying to dry the floor with paper towels, House limped in. "Nice work, Thirteen."

"It was me," Alice volunteered. "I was stupid and didn't look, and knocked it off the counter with my elbow."

"Hmm, must have been because you know your fiancé is wearing your underwear." House turned to Thirteen, saying, "We paged him so he'd have to scrub up and prove it."

"You didn't get pictures?"

"Of course I did," House scoffed, taking out his phone as their pagers went off for real.

Alice ran into the patient's room just as he stopped seizing. "Whatever he's got, it's moved into the central nervous system." Nurses were still making sure he was alright as she dashed back to the conference room, telling the others that he was getting worse.

Taub and Foreman met them back in the differential diagnosis room. Chase soon followed, still in scrubs. "Nothing potentially toxic in the home, so we can rule out iron poisoning."

"But we have to add seizures," House said, tapping away at his phone. Seconds later, Foreman, Thirteen, and Taub's phones went off.

"Ascaris worm?" Taub asked, opening the text, his eyes widening. "Oh my god."

Foreman frowned, checking his phone. "It fits. If it's severe enough, he could have neurological problems."

Thirteen snickered, saying, "They had to be the pink ones, huh? Well, I'm glad you followed up on that dare."

"I'm proud of my photography skills," House told them as Alice looked over Thirteen's shoulder. "Go get a fecal smear to confirm."

"It's not Ascaris," Alice announced to the others in the lab, looking up from her microscope. "Ideas?"

"Mallory-Weiss," Chase offered, leaning against the wall.

"He's not bulimic or an alcoholic," Thirteen objected.

Foreman walked into the lab, shaking his head in disbelief. "The guy's fine now. No seizures in the past hour, heart rate's gone back to normal, and the vomiting stopped twenty minutes ago. He's healthy all of a sudden."

"He's not on any new meds," Taub told them, confused. "We haven't done anything but put fluids back into him."

"Well that rules out Mallory-Weiss," Chase said. He stood, Alice following him out the door. They watched their patient talking to his wife as if nothing had gone wrong. "I don't get it. He was vomiting blood and seizing an hour ago. How is he fine now?"

Alice said nothing until she heard peals of laughter behind her. One of the nurses sitting at a computer was pointing to something on the monitor, a small crowd forming around her. One of them was whispering something like, "I didn't peg him as the type. And pink!" She walked over, the group falling silent as she leaned over the counter at the nurses' station.

"What's that?" Chase asked, following her over, trying to look at the screen.

Alice steered him away, the nurses glancing at each other and trying not to laugh again. "House paged you to go into surgery so he could get a picture of you fulfilling your dare. And he's sent it to the entire hospital."

"Help! Someone!"

Alice and Chase ran into the room, their patient beginning to vomit again as he pointed towards the trash can. "Yes, here." Chase handed him a plastic bucket, but the man kept pointing.

"Roaches," he managed to get out before vomiting again.

"Roaches?" The man's wife raised an eyebrow, holding his hand as he retched. "What does he mean, 'roaches'? There's nothing over there."

"He's hallucinating," Alice told her. "Chase, push some Hematin. It's acute porphyria."

"Acute porphyria," House mused later on, when everyone had been gathered in the conference room again. "Short attacks of hallucinations, vomiting, seizures, and heart issues. I'm sure you confirmed with blood and urine PGB tests?"

"Yes. He's definitely got it."

House nodded, putting his feet up on the glass table. "You know what I got in the mail today?"

The group of doctors looked at each other, Taub finally voicing their thoughts. "Is this some sort of trick question?"

"An invitation to a wedding this summer," House continued. "A second wedding for one of you, since the first one was so crappy." They were silent, waiting to see how far he would go. "My advice to the groom is to not follow Taub's example. Besides, this one is hotter than the last one. But that new lady in radiology... I'd hit that before the wedding. Then again, if your last wife was cool with an open marriage-"

"House," Foreman warned, "don't."

House stood and leaned against the counter, adding, "I'd recommend better husbanding skills with this one. Don't kill anyone and lie to her about it. Odds are she'll kill you." He paused, adding a, "not joking."

"House."

"You did tell her about that misadventure, didn't you?" Alice put a hand on Chase's arm as House continued his abuse. "Who knows, maybe she'll help you with the next one. Oh, and I promise not to almost kill you at your second bachelor party. I'll invite the nurse from radiology too. She-"

"House," Alice stood, walking over to him. "Shut the hell up."

"Feisty, this one. Bet she's got a damn fine-" Alice slapped him across the face, marching out as the others stared. Chase followed, running after her.

He finally caught up with her in the small garden outside of the pediatrics wing. "Babe, I've gotta say, that was amazing."

"He's not going to press charges or anything, is he?"

"No." Chase hugged her. "He of all people should know that he deserves to be slapped sometimes. I punched him in the face a few years ago and he was fine with it."

"Really?"

"Well, not exactly fine. He had a heck of a black eye for a while, but insisted that he had tripped and that I was innocent."

"Then he isn't all bad."

House hadn't said a word during the entire reception yet. He had behaved himself during the wedding, even commenting on the weather to the elderly woman he sat next to. A few people thought this was odd, but figured that he was behaving in order to cause some sort of disruption later. However, Alice had made sure that he received a glass of wine laced with a mild sedative. That would hopefully limit his outbursts.

"You know, my joints have been in pain for weeks now," the old woman told him. She had seemed to be delighted when she found out that she would be at the same table as the famous doctor.

"How old are you?"

"89," the woman said proudly. "I'm Alice's oldest great-aunt."

"Have you ever heard of a little thing allied arthritis?" House asked indignantly.

"All my doctors already cleared that."

"Well, you're old."

"But that doesn't make my eyes twitch or my bones hurt."

"You need new glasses, and it's going to rain."

"I may be pushing 90 years old, but I am not too old to wallop you over the head with my cane, boy."

House held up his cane. "I have one of those too."

"I'd like to make a toast to the happy couple," the best man said, standing.

"And I would like to make a toast to my wonderfully beautiful wife," Chase beamed, joining him.

The crowd raised their glasses and drank. Soon after, the meal began. "You know, when I was your age-" the woman broke of abruptly, and began coughing. "I can't breathe. Not... Choking."

"She's going into anaphylactic shock," Taub said, turning from the next table to help the small crowd forming around the woman. He and a groomsman helped carry her outside, House stabbing her with an EpiPen that one of the other guests had been carrying.

"Are you allergic to anything?" Taub asked once she had caught her breath.

"Never have been." The woman leaned back on the bench she had been deposited on. "Did I have a heart attack?"

"No," Taub explained. "It seems like you had an allergic reaction, but it isn't allergies. Have you had any other symptoms? I'm a doctor too."

"Joint pain for the last few months. And my eyes will sometimes twitch, and my bones hurt. They don't creak like an old woman's usually do. They hurt inside." She took off her hat, fanning herself lazily.

"She's an old woman. Half of those things are explained by that alone," House said.

"Have you had any recent digestive or respiratory problems?"

"Yes. What's wrong with me?"

"Is everything alright?" Chase asked, stepping outside. "We're about to cut the cake."

"It's all under control, young man," the woman said, waving him away with her hat. "Go. Eat. Have fun."

Chase looked questioning it at Taub, who nodded, and then went back into the reception hall. "Well, you're my team," House told Taub, "so what do you think it is?"

"Mastocytosis fits best."

"She would've been diagnosed as a kid, when it usually presents. As a young adult at the latest."

"Not in the 1930's," Taub countered. "In the 1930s, they didn't know a lot about autoimmune diseases. And as a young adult, there was a war on. Any problems she might've had would have been attributed to working in some sort of war industry for nine or 10 hours a day. After that, most doctors would have ruled it out because she would've been too old for its normal presentation."

"Well, we can do a test to confirm. Get me Thirteen's purse."

"What do you need from it?"

"Just get it."

Taub returned a few minutes later with Thirteen's handbag. He tossed it to House, who pulled out a bottle of aspirin. As he handed it to Taub in order to take a few dollars from Thirteen's wallet, he explained, "Nearly every female carries around painkillers. They come in handy when we men become headaches. Feed her a handful."

"If I'm right, she'll go into anaphylactic shock again." Taub frowned, continuing, "There is a fairly decent chance that it will do a lot more damage than the last time."

"Lucky her, we're doctors."

"Ma'am?" Taub asked, handing her the bottle.

The woman shrugged, downing a handful of pills. "I'm 89 years old. If it doesn't kill me, it doesn't kill me. If it does, it does." They waited, listening to the party. "My throat... Can't breathe."

"That's what I like to hear," House said, injecting her with more epinephrine. "Taub, hail a cab so I can get her to the hospital. A few courses of meds and she'll be fine."

A few weeks later, when Alice and Chase had returned from Cabo San Lucas, Alice and Thirteen were in the lab working to confirm a sarcoidosis case. Something smashed, Alice turning to see Thirteen beginning to clean up a shattered beaker. "Don't tell anyone about that," Thirteen pleaded. "They'll say something's wrong, especially House."

"Is anything wrong?" Alice asked, squatting to help dry up the spilled solution.

Thirteen sighed, confessing, "I'm doing this more often. And I've started to forget small things. Like I'll put something in the oven and forget it's there if I don't set a timer on my phone. Or I'll have a few things to pick up at the store on my way home, and completely forget what I need unless I write it down. Im afraid the Huntington's is starting."

"I'm sorry," Alice told her. "If there's anything I can do-"

"First, don't tell anyone yet. Secondly, don't think anything less of me as it progresses. I've seen a lot of people in trials who lost a lot of their friends because of this thing." Thirteen stood, looking around to see if any broken glass was left. "Huntington's patients don't act normally. They don't interact correctly, and they need a lot of help. Please don't leave me because of what happens. I can't stop it."

"I won't. Chase and I will be here, no matter what happens." Alice looked over to where their staining tray sat. "And it's negative."


	9. Chapter 9

She was on a mission. House needed permission for a dangerous experiment, and Alice had drawn the short straw to tell Cuddy that it was already underway. Alice turned a corner quickly, almost crashing into Cuddy, who had been storming down the hall towards the diagnostics department to find House. "Dr. Cuddy, House sent me to ask you for permission to-"

"I know what he wants to do, and it's crazy. That's what I'm trying to find him for. However, he seems to keep disappearing."

"He was in the conference room a few minutes-" Alice paused for a second before vomiting on Cuddy's shoes. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry."

"Head down to the clinic," Cuddy instructed her, grimacing as she shook her head. "I'll deal with this. And House."

Alice went down to the clinic, still feeling queasy. She took a seat after telling the nurse on desk duty that she was there as a patient, not to fulfill her clinic hours. "Room Four is open," she was told after a short wait.

Alice walked into Room Four to find Wilson scribbling away at a chart. "Are you taking over for me? I'm scheduled for another half hour."

"No, I just threw up all over Cuddy." Alice sat down as Wilson spun to face her. "Chase and I had the same thing for breakfast today and dinner last night, and he isn't sick. I haven't been on clinic duty for a few days, so I don't think I've picked anything up."

"Do you have a patient?"

"We do, but it's autoimmune. I couldn't have picked it up from her." She leaned back on the wall with a sigh.

Wilson handed her a thermometer, noting in a few seconds that, "You don't have a fever. This started this morning?"

"For the last few days," she confessed. "I figured it was because I wasn't eating enough in the morning. We usually rush out the door, but I always try to grab something to eat before we leave the house."

Wilson thought for a moment. "And the nauseousness is gone by the afternoon?"

"Yes, usually."

Wilson sat back, but his lip, and decided to pitch his idea. "Is there any way you could be pregnant?"

"What? I - well, yes."

Wilson stood up, searching the cabinets for something before handing her a box and gesturing to the restroom. "Go pee on a stick and we'll find out for sure."

Alice returned a few minutes later, looking a shade paler. "I'm pregnant," she announced, sitting down weakly. "We haven't even talked about when we want to have kids yet. I don't even know if I do."

"Talk to him," Wilson advised, giving her a hug. "Talk to him. After the shock wears off, you two can make some decisions."

Alice met Chase in the hospital cafeteria for dinner. He had just come from surgery and was pretty tired, but still managed to give her a dazzling smile. "How'd it go?"

"Mrs. Walden will be back on her feet in no time," he told her as they sat down. "I've got to be in surgery again in an hour, though. Hourani is out for his daughter's graduation, so Thomas asked if I could help with the next couple of patients. It's just routine stuff. I should be home a bit later than normal, nothing awful."

"Alright." Alice paused to eat a few French fries. "I'll be in the clinic. I'm going to get a jump on my hours, since House doesn't have a new case for us yet."

"Hey, is something going on? I saw House going to bother Wilson, but when he came back, he was talking to a few nurses and taking bets," Chase told her, watching House walk into the cafeteria, following Wilson. "Is he up to something?"

"I think I know what it is," Alice confessed as House took a seat nearby, putting his feet up lazily and shouting to Wilson to pick him up a burger. "Chase, there's something I've go to tell you."

"What's wrong?" His face was suddenly full of concern, and he had totally forgotten about House. All that mattered in those few seconds was his wife. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay." She took his hand, confessing, "I'm pregnant. You're gonna be a dad."

Chase smiled, standing up to hug her. "I love you."

"I'm terrified," she admitted, whispering into his ear.

"It'll be okay. We'll get through it together, okay? How far along are you?"

"We figured about three or four weeks."

"We? Who else knows?" Chase asked, letting go of her.

"Cuddy, who I threw up all over, and Wilson, who was the doctor in the clinic room that she sent me to."

"And by extension, House," Chase reasoned as they say back down.

"Correct, young man," House said, standing up and walking over to shake his hand. "I couldn't help but overhear. Congratulations. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some money to collect from Taub."

That evening, Chase was quiet. He had taken the news well, but had rushed out of the room on an emergency page a few minutes later. He had caught a ride home, getting there as Alice was getting ready for bed. She had microwaved leftovers for him since he hadn't had time to eat much, and he had mumbled his thanks, but little more. "Babe, what are you thinking?" she finally asked when he sat on the bed beside her.

As she closed the book she had been reading, Chase answered, "I can't believe it. It's so sudden. I didn't think this would happen so soon. That night in Cabo... I should have thought..."

"It's okay," she smiled, leaning over to give him a kiss. "I'm still kind of freaked out too. But we'll figure this out." She rolled over as Chase turned off the light, thinking of how everyone would react when they told them. "Goodnight, Chase. I love you."

"I love you too, Alice," he said. There was a second of silence before Chase drew her close and put a hand over her stomach, adding, "And I love you too, whoever you are."


	10. Chapter 10

Alice had just sent a child with laryngitis and an overly worried mother out of her clinic room when Cuddy walked in, taking a seat. "How's the baby?"

She smiled, unconsciously putting a hand to her stomach. "Everything's okay," Alice told her. It had been three weeks since she had found out that she was pregnant, and everyone at the hospital had not stopped asking how she was doing. The diagnostics department had gotten a cake, which was nice. Some of the nurses had already been planning a baby shower.

Things in the hospital had definitely changed. While everyone doted over Alice, Thirteen had officially left, her symptoms getting worse. She had been looking into a home health aide the last time Alice and Chase had visited.

"I need a favor," Cuddy said, sitting up straighter. "I have a board meeting Friday night, and Rachel's babysitter can't make it. Frankly, you and Wilson are the only ones I'd trust with her, and he's stuck at the meeting with me. Could you babysit? It's just for a few hours."

"Sure, no problem," Alice told her. "We can go pick up a pizza or something and spend the evening not destroying your place."

When Chase and Alice got to Cuddy's house, they were greeted by a five-year-old in a princess costume, Cuddy right behind her. "I tried to get her to wear something more reasonable," Cuddy explained as she packed papers into her briefcase in the house, "but it didn't work. She's fine as a princess. Okay, Rachel, I've got to go to work. Alice and Chase are going to get you pizza, though."

"Bye, Mommy," Rachel laughed, giving Alice a crown to wear.

"I should be back by seven thirty, but these things usually late," Cuddy said, heading out the door.

"No problem."

"What kind of pizza do you like, Princess Rachel? I will send this valiant knight to get us some," Alice asked, Chase bowing to both of them.

"Cheese! And what's a val... Valium?"

"Valium is a medicine. Valiant is brave, like Chase," Alice smiled as Chase went to call in a pizza order.

"Okay, ladies, er, Princess Rachel and Queen Alice, I am heading out on a quest to bring us some pizza," Chase told them, putting his jacket on. "And maybe some ice cream. Chocolate?"

"Chocolate," Rachel confirmed, dumping a box of crayons on the table.

As Rachel started coloring, Alice stood and gave Chase a hug. "Be careful. Watch out for dragons," she smiled, kissing him.

"I will. Fare-thee-well, your majesty," he laughed, walking out the door.

Alice sat back down by Rachel, who turned and asked, "Are you and Chase dating?"

"We're married," Alice told her. "You were at our wedding, remember?"

"He looks like a prince. Why does your husband look like a prince? All the other kids' daddies that I know don't look like princes. Can you hand me the purple?"

Alice passed her the crayon with a smile, saying, "I'm just lucky, I guess."

"You look kind of like Merida from _Brave_. Or Ariel. But with glasses. So maybe he is your prince."

"I hope so."

Alice's phone rang while the three of them were having dinner in a blanket fort constructed in front of the TV. "It's House," she said when Chase raised an eyebrow.

"Take it. If they're calling us, they're out of options," Chase told her.

Alice stood, heading away from their fort. "Hello?"

"You're on speaker," House said, "We've got a guy here with a spreading rash with blisters that keep filling with pus. Vomiting stopped a few hours ago, but he's still running a fever. He also has pneumonia, which we think is a complication."

"What do we know about this guy?" Alice asked, watching Rachel climb over Chase to grab another pillow.

"He's 23, working at a Burger King. He lives like a slob, but there aren't any heavy metal sources in his apartment. We're running cultures for bacterial infections now," Taub said.

"What about his parents? Congenital conditions?"

"Mom's a health nut. The whole family is vegetarian and she insists on exercising every day, even for the kids. Dad's the same way. He's a marathon runner, keeps trophies everywhere."

"Can I have ice cream now?" Rachel asked, walking over by Alice.

Chase followed, laughing, "Me too?"

"Sure," Alice smiled. "It's in the freezer. Chase is a big boy. He can get it."

Everyone on the other end suddenly seemed to have something to say. "Is that Cuddy's kid?"

"Hi!"

"We won't keep you for long."

"Yes, it's Cuddy's kid," Alice told them. "What have you already tried?"

"Broad-spectrum antibiotics aren't working. It isn't keratosis or an allergy," Foreman listed. "We ruled out mono and sarcoidosis."

"Do you want whipped cream?" Chase called from the kitchen.

"Yes, thanks," Alice said. "Does he live alone?"

"Ooh, kinky."

"House!" There was a distinct sound of someone wrestling for the phone. Alice figured it was Foreman.

"Is somebody sick?" Rachel asked, walking back towards the fort with a bowl of ice cream.

"Yes, and they don't know what's wrong with him. Don't worry, I'll be back soon. Chase can restart the movie for now."

"Maybe he has chicken pox," Rachel mused, sitting back down with Chase. "I had to get shots for chicken pox before school."

As Chase restarted the movie they had been watching, Alice had an idea. "Rachel's right. He has chicken pox." She called the team back, explaining her theory.

"That's impossible. Every kid gets the vaccine before they start school," Taub objected. "They started that years ago."

"Not if their parents are health nuts who object to vaccines. And if he's recently out of the house and working at a place where lots of kids are coughing and sneezing and running around, he could get it. All the symptoms fit. Start him on Aciclovir and see if that helps." Alice looked over to see Chase cleaning up a chocolate-ice-cream-covered Rachel.

There was a pause as the rest of the team looked at House. "Do it. If his kidneys start failing, then we know she's wrong. If not, Dr. Cuddy Jr may have just saved our guy," House announced. There was the sound of chairs scraping and doctors leaving the diagnostics room, but House didn't hang up. "How's domestic life?"

"Tiring," she answered honestly. "We'll be running after our own kid this time next year. I'm surprised Chase took this all so well."

"He's a doctor, and an intensivist at that. He's supposed to be able to take startling news."

Foreman watched as their patient's rash began shrinking, Taub announcing that his fever had broken. A set of parents stood outside of their son's room, smiling as two nurses have them the injections that they had been refusing for years. The patient would receive the same ones before he was released, in order to prevent any more childhood infections from almost killing him.

"He's improving," Taub announced, walking into the diagnostics room. House was still talking to Alice.

"Thank goodness," Alice said over the phone.

"That's why you always vaccinate your kids," House advised. "Keep Mini Cuddy from dying, and I'll see the two of you tomorrow."

Alice hung up, saying, "Rachel, you were right. You just saved-" Rachel had fallen asleep against Chase, whose eyes were dropping as well.

He blinked, asking, "What?"

"Rachel said he had chicken pox. She was right. Mom never got the kid vaccinated, and he caught it from a kid at the restaurant," Alice explained as Chase carried Rachel to her bed and tucked her in.

"Have you been thinking about names yet?" Chase asked, starting to clean up the blanket fort in the living room.

"Not yet. Do you want a boy or a girl?"

"A healthy child," he answered as Cuddy unlocked the front door.

"I'm sorry we ran so late. Davidson wouldn't stop complaining about getting a new parking space, and then there was this nurse... Is Rachel asleep?" She set her briefcase down, then shed her jacket.

"She fell asleep on Chase," Alice told her, putting on her coat.

"Thank you so much, both of you," Cuddy told them, hugging Chase, and then Alice, to whom she whispered, "Go fall asleep on Chase. Come in late tomorrow if you want to."


	11. Chapter 11

Chase was in an operating room, removing a cancerous growth on a child's stomach. The team had discovered it just in time and had managed to find a way to save her. It was a risky surgery, but their best option. Her anxious parents stood behind the windows into the operating theater with their pastor. "We've got a bleed right there." The surgeon on his left passed over a wad of gauze, a surgical assistant checking the child's IV lines. As a second assistant brought over a tray full of sterilized stitching materials, Cuddy walked into the the observation room. She said something reassuring to the parents before buzzing into the OR. "Dr. Chase," she said calmly over the microphone. "You're needed in another room."

"I'm up to my wrists in stomach," he told her, holding his bloodied gloves up to emphasize his point. "Can it wait 20 minutes? Ask them to call back."

"Dr. Chase, we need you to scrub out now. It's incredibly urgent." Cuddy walked out of the room without explaining further.

An hour earlier, Alice kissed her husband as he headed towards surgery. They had finally diagnosed Claudia Martin and realized that she would need emergency surgery to save her life. Now two and a half months pregnant, Alice had been told to avoid surgery in order to avoid unnecessary stress. Instead, she headed down to the clinic, where she was restricted to sewing stitches and setting broken arms and legs.

Although she had had a slight fever all morning, Alice called in her first patient. The girl had done a flip and hit the diving board at the local pool, ripping a gash in her eyebrow. "With stitches and some ice, you should be okay in a little while," Alice promised her and her overly-worried mother as she wrote out a prescription. "I'm writing a scrip for some painkillers that you'll need once the bleeding stops." When she dismissed the girl and her mom, Ellie popped a few aspirin, thinking her backache was the result of standing up for too long with a growing stomach. Or perhaps from too much strain decorating the baby's room over the weekend. After setting a broken toe for a soccer player ready to get back on the field, she put on her lab coat. The clinic room was freezing. She'd have to complain to the nurse on desk duty later.

"Okay, who's next?" She stuck her head out of the clinic room door, looking around. "Regina, could you turn the AC up a bit? I'm freezing." The nurse at the desk nodded, since she had been freezing as well. One of the bonuses of working in a hospital - it was like working in cold storage. "Wilkersons, you're next. Room one."

Mr. and Mrs. Wilkerson walked into the room with their son. Seven-year-old Isaac had broken his finger falling on a trampoline. Alice took one look at it and concluded, "It's definitely broken. However, you got lucky and all of the bones are still inside." She reached for some tape to make a splint. "Bending it back into shape is going to hurt, and you'll have a lot of swelling for a few days, but you should be okay in the long run. It's been under an hour, right?"

The whimpering boy nodded, his mother saying, "Yes. We brought him in as soon as it happened, and we've only been waiting ten, fifteen minutes at the most."

Alice opened a cabinet, pulling out a bag of cotton candy. Handing it to the boy, she explained, "This is the best thing I've found for kids whose bones I have to reset. Start eating it now, and you'll have a mouthful when I bend your finger back into shape. It will still hurt, but not as much." Isaac gladly started eating large mouthfuls of cotton candy, which certainly muffled his yelp of pain as Alice bent his finger back to normal and began taping it to another. "There you go. The worst part's already over. In a minute, I'll write a scrip for pain pills, and a note to keep you out of school for a day or two." Alice was rather liberal with doctors' notes, which made both kids and adults happier when they left.

"Ma'am, you're bleeding," Mrs. Wilkerson said, pointing to a trickle of blood running down Alice's leg. "Did you nick your leg on that drawer?"

"Your son is done. Please go out and tell the attending nurse to have another doctor write you a note and a prescription, and then send her in here." Trying not to panic, she watched the Wilkersons leave.

The next few minutes went by in a blur. Regina ran in, followed by another doctor fulfilling her clinic hours for the week. They looked at each other, shook their heads, and sprung into action. Alice somehow made it onto a stretcher and into the hospital, her arm hooked into an IV line to maintain her fluids. The diagnostics team showed up and took over while an obstetrician was paged. "What's happening?" Alice tried not to start hyperventilating, knowing something was seriously wrong. "Where's Chase?"

"Don't panic," House advised.

"I'm pregnant, I'm bleeding, and I feel like someone is kicking me in the stomach. I fucking have a right to panic," she spat.

"Page Wilson. He'll know what to do," House lazily told Foreman, dropping into a chair by the window.

Wilson ran into the room, followed by the head obstetrician, a friendly older woman named Dr. Xian. "Where's Chase?" Alice asked again, hoping someone would have the answers.

"Cuddy's gone to get him out of surgery," Wilson promised, taking her hand. "He'll be here as soon as he can. For now, I'll be right here."

"What's happening?" She focused on Wilson, the comforter by nature, knowing that he'd tell her the truth.

"Dr. Xian is trying to figure that out now. It's likely a minor problem," he assured her. "Her first name's Brenda. She's the best obstetrician we have."

"Blood pressure's dropping," Taub nervously noted as the monitor began beeping. "Temperature is also on the low side."

"I've got to figure out where the bleeding is coming from. If we're lucky, it's a small uterine bleed," Xian explained. "If not, it could be a kidney problem."

"Look at her eyes. There definitely is a kidney problem. Or one of them is involved," Foreman pointed out, heading into the hall after being paged to replace Chase in surgery.

Chase left the operating room in good hands, getting rid of his apron, gloves, face mask, and paper cap before washing up to his elbows in no particular hurry. Cuddy often called one of the more experienced doctors out of surgery if a consult was needed. As long as one trained surgeon was there, it would be fine. On his way up the stairs, he met Foreman, who jogged by, saying, "It's your wife. Something's wrong. Room 247" before running into the next clean room.

Chase bolted to the nearest elevator, standing at the front of the group of doctors and nurses gathered inside. He waited anxiously as the car climbed a few floors, running out and almost colliding with a janitor before reaching the room Alice was in. House was lounging in a chair, Taub changing bags of IV fluids. Dr. Xian was looking at the vital monitor screen, shaking her head. Wilson was still talking to Alice, trying to keep her calm.

"What's going on?" he asked, Wilson moving aside.

"Chase," Alice smiled as he kissed her forehead and grabbed her hand, "thank God you're here."

"She's going into slight shock," Xian explained. "We may have to operate to close a bleed."

"Her kidneys are failing," House stressed, "we're beyond that now. We need to stop the failure first."

"Respiration is going down," Taub added. "She needs oxygen."

"Dr. Taub, start oxygen. Dr. Chase, Dr. Wilson, I need both of you to go outside. James, you know what you have to do," Dr. Xian instructed, reaching for a needle as the monitor began beeping again.

Wilson and Chase sat on a bench in view of Alice's room, though the curtains had been closed. Chase, still in his green surgery scrubs, looked older than he ever had, stressed close to breaking. He rubbed his eyes, trying to think clearly. "What did she mean, 'you know what to do'?"

"Robert, Alice is having something called a septic miscarriage. It's caused by an infection that she could have picked up anywhere. They're keeping her from going into shock now," Wilson explained carefully. "They're beyond the point of a healthy outcome for both of them. That means you have a decision to make."

"No," Chase mumbled, suddenly understanding what he was being asked to do. "I can't… you can't seriously be asking me to do this."

"There's a small chance that they can use a surrogate mother for the baby, but also a chance that it won't work. They can remove the fetus and transplant it, but in the time that takes, it's likely that your wife wouldn't survive. On the other hand, they could remove it with a drug cocktail that would stop the pregnancy immediately and save your wife. As it stands now, you have the executive medical decision."

"My wife or my child?"

"Yes," Wilson nodded grimly. "As it stands now, I'd say you have about an hour and a half to make a choice before it would kill both of them. You need to make a choice whether they save your wife or your child."

Chase sat alone in the hospital's chapel, praying for the first time in a while. A safe bet would give him and hour to make a choice. He had talked to Wilson for a while before heading to the chapel. The hospital chaplain knocked on the door before entering and sitting beside him. Father Morris had served as the hospital chaplain for nearly twenty years, talking to hundreds of grieving and worried families in his time. "What's troubling you, son?"

"My wife is in the hospital. They've given me an hour to choose whether to save her or my unborn child," Chase explained, looking at the stained glass behind the empty pulpit. "It's an impossible choice."

In his calm way, the chaplain asked, "They can't save both of them?"

"There's no way. She's having a septic miscarriage that will kill them both if I wait too long. They could transplant the fetus and have a chance of saving it, or they could stop the pregnancy and save my wife. If they transplant the fetus, they'd have to wait too long to do anything to Alice, and it would kill my wife."

"What's she like?" Father Morris asked, watching Chase put his head in his hands.

"She's beautiful. She's a genius. She's everything I could ever want in a wife. Her name's Alice. She works here with me in the Diagnostics department. I loved her from the moment I met her, and I've never stopped. When she told me she was pregnant, I didn't know what to think. We didn't want kids this early, but we went with it. We've just finished decorating the nursery," he added, thinking of the room that he and Alice had just finished designing.

"Are you a religious man?"

"I was raised Catholic," Chase confessed. "I was in seminary for a year before I realized I wanted to become a doctor. I've always believed in God, but I haven't been to confession for a while. We had a small wedding, nothing incredibly religious. But I haven't stopped praying since I found out about Alice. It's all I can do."

"I'll pray that you make the right decision," Father Morris said, standing. "It looks as if you have a visitor." He walked out of the chapel as House limped over in silence.

He dropped into Morris' empty seat, reminding Chase, "Fifty minutes until we start getting into the unsafe time frame. Have you made a decision?"

"Not yet," Chase sighed, leaning back in the pew.

"You can always have another kid and you can always get a new wife. Make a choice."

Chase paid no attention to House's insensitive comment. "What would you do? If it was Cuddy or your kid?"

"This is a choice you have to make for yourself. But you should make one soon."

"I should be with my wife," Chase told him, getting up and heading out of the chapel, leaving House alone.

Alice was deathly pale and hooked up to several different IV lines when Chase walked into her room. Even her hair had lost its natural glow. Her glasses had been placed on the table next to her bed. Dr. Xian leaned against the wall, barred from doing anything until a choice was made. Taub, Wilson, and Cuddy had formed a small group in chairs near the bed. They were talking quietly, ever so often glancing at Alice. Chase sat on the bed next to her, taking her hand gingerly.

"She's pretty sedated," Xian explained. "She's aware, but can't feel any pain. She's been drifting in and out of consciousness for a little while now."

"Hi." Chase made a faint effort to smile, kissing Alice's forehead.

"What's going on? What's wrong with me?" She leaned into him, Chase putting an arm around her, drawing her close in an effort to keep her calm.

He looked over at the group gathered near the bedside. "You haven't explained?"

Cuddy finally turned to be the spokesperson of the group, measuring her answer carefully. "We're going to let you decide what to tell her."

"My wife has a right to know what's happening to her own body," Chase replied angrily. He turned to Alice and told her, "Babe, you've got an infection. It's causing a septic miscarriage. They can save the baby, but doing that... doing that would kill you. They could also save you, but the baby wouldn't make it. They want me to make a decision. Soon."

"They need to save the baby," she breathed. Chase's heart sank. After a slight pause, she added, "But I don't want to die."

"She's not totally lucid," Dr. Xian told Chase. "That's why you need to be the one to decide."

"How do you feel, honey?" he asked, trying to keep his composure as he ran a hand through her hair.

"Tired. Incredibly tired. And scared. But better, now that you're here." Alice moved slightly so she could hold his hand comfortably. "Please don't leave again."

"I never will," he promised, kissing the top of her head. Chase looked up at Dr. Xian, who had been watching the exchange. "I want you to save my wife."


	12. Chapter 12

Alice had been released from the hospital a few days later. She and Chase took a week off, choosing to both stay home. Neither of them had walked into the nursery since they got home.

Several people had come to visit, bringing trays of ziti or pots of soup. The Diagnostics team came by at least every other day to sit and talk in the living room. Chase had taken charge of everything from cleaning and cooking to managing the thank-you notes to all of their well-wishers. And, of course, blocking calls from House, who would still ask them for opinions on a case. He and Alice would sleep in every day, staying up late into the night watching TV or talking. Alice went through most of the day in numbness, not totally present when Chase talked to her. He'd realize this and hold her until she collected herself and began talking.

A knock on the door came Thursday evening. Chase opened the door to a giant basket of baked goods being brandished by Taub. He, Foreman, and Wilson were all gathered to visit. They were shown into the living room, Chase going upstairs to get Alice. "Honey, the team is here, if you want to see them," he told her, sitting next to his wife on their bed.

"Chase," she wrapped her arms around him, "I love you."

"I love you too, honey." He hugged her back, promising, "Remember, I'm always going to be here."

"Thanks," she tried to smile. "It feels like I'm going crazy."

"Well, I love you, no matter what. Now let's go say hi to the team. Taub brought enough bread and cookies to feed the entire block." They stood up together, heading downstairs.

Alice was hugged by everyone before dropping into a loveseat by the window. Chase went into the kitchen to get everyone drinks, coming back to curl up with his wife. They had rarely been further than ten feet from each other all week.

"How are you doing?" Foreman asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I'm tired a lot. And sad. This just doesn't feel totally real. It hits me sometimes, and it's awful. But Chase keeps me company, even if I'm up crying all night. I've got a great husband." Chase put an arm around her. "We're coming back next week."

"Are you sure?" Wilson questioned. "You should take as much time off as you need."

Alice shook her head, taking a sip of the tea that Chase had brought her. "I want to get back into things. And Chase deserves to do something other than worrying about me all day."

"I don't mind it. I get to be close to you all day," he assured her.

"You guys remind me of Rachel and I, when we were first married," Taub said wistfully. "We couldn't be apart for more than a few hours. Just make sure you keep that up. Be there for each other like I couldn't be there for her."

Wilson agreed, offering some advice as he rolled up his sleeves. "Don't live at the hospital. You'll both be much happier if you don't."

When the team had left, Alive was falling asleep in her chair. Chase got up to clear away the plates and cups everyone had used, sitting back down next to her once he had started the dishwasher. "Honey, if you're going to fall asleep, you should probably head upstairs."

"Chase?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you love me?"

"Of course I do," he assured her. He pulled her close to whisper, "I love you, I always have, and I always will."

"I lost our child. We were supposed to have little ginger-blonde kids with weird Jersey-Australian accents. They were supposed to tan like you do when we all fly to Melbourne or Sydney for the summer. I was supposed to... be the one yelling at all of you to wear sunscreen on the beach. The one who drove them to their first day of kindergarten. I... I was supposed to do this right..."

"Come here." Chase held his sobbing wife to his chest, telling her, "It'll be okay. We'll try again in the future. We'll have a kid, or a couple. They'll have their mother's hair and their father's eyes. Or their father's hair and their mother's eyes. They'll tan like I do or burn to a crisp like you. They'll try on our lab coats and be teddy bear doctors. And they'll love their mother as much as I do."

Alice kissed his cheek, saying, "And they'll look up to their dad. They'll bury you in sand at the beach and wonder why mom can barbecue better than you can. They'll learn how to surf from you, and laugh as you try to pitch a tent. We'll go to all of their baseball games or ballet performances or karate lessons. We'll be a family." She paused, looking at her husband. "Why don't you cry? You just lost your child, for God's sake."

"I do," Chase said. "I did when I heard you both were dying. And while I was holding your hand during the operation. You were sedated, but they let me in because I technically have surgery clearance even when it's you. I did when I got home that night, when everything fully hit me. I do when you can't see, because you need me to hold us all together. I try not to, because you need someone strong. You need me to be here for you, Alice. And I need you to keep me strong."

"What do we do with the nursery? What are we supposed to do now?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "I'd say we leave the nursery as it is for now. We give everything time. Right now, right this minute, we go to bed. We get up tomorrow and have a nice day off. We just have to keep moving, a day at a time."


	13. Chapter 13

"We've got a 33-year-old male presenting with a fever, slow pulse, and constipa-what the hell?" House limped into the diagnostics conference room, stopping in his tracks when he saw Chase and Alice sitting in their usual spots, poring over folders of potential cases with the others. "Well, blondie and ginger minus one, you're back."

"House," Foreman warned, cocking his head, "this is a very sensitive situation."

"He's recently been out of the country," Taub read from the patient's file in an attempt to get House to shut up. "Let's get a blood sample started for malaria. While it's running, we can also go through the usual range of diseases."

"Seems like a good idea. Let's go, honey," Chase proposed forcefully. He and Alice left quickly, House shrugging his agreement.

"Don't let him get to you," Foreman advised, jogging up to them. "He didn't stop talking about my brother for a month after House found out he was locked up. And when my mom was getting Alzheimer's..." He shook his head, trailing off as they walked into the room.

"Phil?" Alice asked, sitting in the chair next to the man's bed as Chase swabbed his arm and located a needle. "Your admission sheet said you'd been out of the country recently. Where have you traveled in the past month or two?"

"I was in Kenya for a few days helping to build a school, then Afghanistan and rural India for a water project," the man told her, watching Chase prepare a needle. Alice patiently wrote this down while Foreman groaned - any of those locations could have given him a whole host of diseases.

"What is this?" Chase had lifted the man's sleeve to draw blood, revealing a red rash.

Alice put on a pair of gloves, stretching the skin to see that Phil had a host of rosy spots, which all were blurring into a rash. "Well, this certainly isn't malaria."

As Taub edged over to get a look, Phil held a hand to his face and asked, "Uh, is my nose supposed to be bleeding?"

They all looked at his blood-covered hand in wonder, Foreman noting, "This definitely isn't malaria."

"I think we need to do an LP. If it's bacterial, we should be able to find a concentrated node that way," Alice proposed back in the conference room, writing 'nosebleed' on the whiteboard. "Even if we don't hit a node of bacteria, we'll get enough in the cerebrospinal fluid to be able to tell what it is."

"I think we need to do an LP," House repeated with a nod, putting his feet up on the table. "If it's bacterial, we should be able to find a concentrated node that way." The team looked at him, waiting. Sure enough, his twisted punchline came soon after. "Good thing that D&C didn't remove any of your brain cells."

"She'll give you an LP if you aren't careful," Foreman warned, watching Chase and Alice head to the patient's room.

"Please don't let me kill him," Alice told Chase in the hall before they entered Phil's room. "It's definitely getting hard to resist at this point."

"That's House," Chase said, giving her a consoling hug. "Go take a break. I'll do the LP. Get some coffee or something."

"Thanks, babe." Alice headed off as Chase went into the patient's room.

"Your girlfriend?" Phil asked, coughing and holding his nose. "Damn it, I'm bleeding again."

"She's my wife. I'm going to need you to roll onto your side. We need to do something called a lumbar puncture to see if we can find any concentrated bacteria in your spinal fluid." Phil rolled onto his side, Chase noting that, "You've got those rosy spots on your abdomen too."

"Where's my wife?" he asked, Chase frowning as he inserted the needle.

"You don't have a wife. It was in your file."

"She was just here. We were talking about her. She walked off to go to the cafeteria, I think."

"Phil, what does your wife look like?" Chase helped him sit up, Phil coughing again as Chase set the needle down.

"She's wearing purple today. She has kind of curly hair and glasses - she's shortsighted." Phil was completely sure of what he was saying. "She's a doctor. Works around here."

"Phil, that's my wife you're talking about."

"Oh." He leaned back in bed, shaking his head and remarking, "I'm definitely sick."

"You're delirious," Chase told him. "Your fever's holding. Once we get this cultured, we can figure out what's wrong."

"So is delirium a new symptom, or is it being caused by the fever?" Chase asked the team once they had reassembled and the lab was running a battery of tests.

"I think it's new," Taub proposed. "His fever is holding. It's been the same since he was admitted. Why would it just develop now if it was caused by the fever? It would have presented earlier."

"It might be late-onset from the fever," Foreman countered. "We need the cultures to confirm."

"Have either of you seen Alice?" Chase asked, clearly preoccupied.

"'Either'?" House spoke up from his corner.

"Yes, 'either'," Chase retorted. "I ask Taub and Foreman because they'll answer me. I'll just get another dead baby joke from you. We've all had enough of those already."

"As a matter of fact," House thought out loud, "I think I did tell someone another dead baby joke in the cafeteria..."

Chase shook his head, walking out of the room, figuring that he'd offended Alice again. "I'm going to find my wife before she kills you." Alice was sitting on the floor in the chemical storage closet next to the lab when Chase walked in. He sat down next to her, pulling her to his chest. "What did he say?"

"How did you know?" she asked, kissing his cheek.

"He's an idiot, and he's been trying to get to us all day. I kind of figured."

"How's Phil?" Alice sniffed, ignoring the question that he had just asked.

"The cultures should be ready soon." Chase looked down at his pager, which had started beeping. "He's delirious and they think he's hemorrhaging intestinally now."

"Do we need to go?"

"I'm sure Foreman and Taub can handle it. The nurses requested they approve chloramphenicol while they're running over there," Chase told her. He ran a hand through her hair, saying, "We can stay here as long as you like. And when we go back out there, I can give him a black eye, if you want."

"I'd like that, but I don't think hurting him will solve anything. Besides, I'd get more satisfaction if I did it."

"Always the better half of me," Chase smiled.

"I need your phone," Alice said, digging into his coat pocket. She had bolted up with a sudden flash of insight. She dialed and waited a few seconds before saying, "Push ampicillin, amoxicillin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. He's got typhoid fever. He picked it up in India from unsafe drinking water. The tests will come back loaded with typhoid bacteria in an hour or so. Just believe me. Ask House, that's what he's suspected all along. No, I'm not telling you where I am. Just treat him. Okay. Goodbye."

She handed Chase back his phone as he asked, "How'd you figure that out?"

"Travel, plus the symptoms. Duh." She gave him a kiss, saying, "Do we have to leave?"

"Yeah," Chase sighed, helping her stand up. "Or else Taub will walk in here looking for more buffer or another pipet and we'll never hear the end of it." He held the door open for her, promising, "But when we get home..."

She kissed his nose, saying, "They told me to wait at least two weeks. That means at least five more days."

"Ugh, really? Then I promise I'll cuddle the heck out of you."


	14. Chapter 14

"We've got a living five-year-old girl," House announced as he limped into the conference room. Alice set down her cup of coffee, Chase moved closer to her, and the rest of the team glared at House in silence. Taking the hint, he added an, "oops, sorry" before continuing, "Mom brought her in complaining of what appear to be severe pimples. Kind of odd, considering she's barely started kindergarten."

"Pimples? That's it?" Taub asked, watching House write down the first symptom on the whiteboard.

"Early puberty could be brought on by exposure to certain chemicals," Foreman offered. "If she's been exposed to, say her mom's estrogen supplements or something similar, this could be the start."

"Good. Take Tiny on a home search. Captain and Mrs. Australia, go talk to the parents, see if you can get anything out of them."

Chase and Alice met the girl's parents in her room. Mr. and Mrs. Madsen were nice enough people who were willing to provide information. "Lily started getting these weird bumps on her skin last week. I thought it was because I had bought different laundry detergent, but I switched back, and she's still covered in them," Mrs. Madsen explained. "Then I thought it could be bed bugs, but that wasn't it either. They're filled with pus, just like pimples are. Her pediatrician is baffled. She says she has no idea what it is. So are the clinic doctors."

"Could she have been exposed to any chemicals in your home?" Chase asked, giving her a few examples. "Cleaners, any medication you're on?"

"The only thing we take are multivitamins," Mrs. Madsen told him, looking at her daughter. "Right, Lily?"

"Right, mommy. Where's Charles?"

"She has a brother?" Alice asked, wondering why the boy wasn't there.

"Lily's an only child. Charles is her stuffed giraffe," Mr. Madsen explained. "He's at home, honey. One of us will run and get him soon."

Chase had an idea. "Mr. Madsen, why don't you run home and get Charles now? I'll walk with you for a bit."

Mr. Madsen kissed his wife and daughter goodbye, Chase walking down the hall with him. When Chase returned, he whispered to Alice, "He won't admit to using Viagra or anything like that. If she mixed them up with vitamins, that may explain the pimples. We'll see what Foreman and Taub find in the home search."

"Dr. Alice?" Lily said, lifting her hands up and looking at them, "I can't feel my fingers."

Alice and Chase shared a look while Mrs. Madsen gasped. Chase quickly told her, "That's okay. Can you feel your elbows?"

"I think so."

"What about your knees?"

"Yeah." Lily flexed her fingers, staring at them as if she would regain feeling immediately.

"Your stomach?"

"I think so. Mommy, why can't I feel my fingers?" She looked like she was about to cry.

"What about this?" Chase tickled her until the girl laughed, her mom looking slightly relieved. "I guess that's a yes."

"We'll be right back. There's a peripheral nerve test we can do to see how much feeling she's lost," Alice told them. "It shouldn't hurt."

When they got to the conference room, Taub and Foreman were already there. "We've got nothing. They were telling the truth. Plus there are no leaky pipes or sprayable pesticides. There's nothing abnormal she could have been exposed to."

"Well, Alice and I may have discovered neuropathy," Chase said, adding it to the whiteboard with a question mark in parentheses. "We just need to confirm it. Where's House?"

"Outside," Foreman answered. "Apparently he bought something that's being delivered on a truck. We saw it as we drove in."

Alice walked over to the window, reporting, "He rented a bouncy castle. The delivery guys are setting it up. And now Cuddy's out there, probably telling them to take it away."

"I want to go," Chase laughed, frowning at her until Alice assented.

"After the test." Alice headed back towards Lily's room, Chase following her.

Mr. Madsen had returned, and Lily was now sitting with a stuffed giraffe. "Do they rent bounce houses every week? That's a nice idea," he smiled, pushing his glasses up his nose as he peeked out of the window blinds.

"No, that's just one of our doctors. He, uh, thought it would be a good idea."

"That's wonderful. Kids in the hospital need things like that," Mrs. Madsen smiled, braiding her daughter's silvery blonde hair.

Alice set a box on the table next to Lily's bed. "Okay, what we're going to do is give you this thing that looks like a refrigerator magnet with some wires," she explained, handing Lily a device attached to the box. "We're going to program it to heat up or cool down, and we need you to tell us which one you feel. We'll start with your forehead." Lily giggled as Alice placed the small device on her head. "Okay, Dr. Chase is going to press a button. Just tell us what you feel."

"That one's cold."

Half an hour later, Alice and Chase had removed the question mark beside 'neuropathy' on the whiteboard. Lily had definitely lost feeling in her fingers, and she was rapidly losing the feeling in her toes. They also added, 'cough', since the girl had begun coughing uncontrollably halfway through the test. They'd managed to get it under control, but she was requiring more and more medicines as her symptoms progressed. "Where's Taub?" Alice asked Foreman, who had walked into the conference room with a cup of coffee.

"Outside in the bouncy castle. Cuddy said House could keep it here if the pediatrics ward could use it too."

Chase gave Alice a look, and in response she told him, "Go. Have fun. Make the kids laugh. Foreman and I can handle this."

"Really?"

"Go ahead."

"You're sure?" Chase hung his lab coat on a hook, putting his tie in a pocket.

"Yes," she laughed. "Go be a kid."

Chase left, handing her his phone and his pager on his way out of the door. Seconds later, it started beeping. Alice's and Foreman's went off as well. "She's spiked a fever and is bleeding from her gums," Alice read. Both of them ran to Lily's room, where a pair of nurses were getting the bleeding under control.

"Lymphoma," Taub proposed. The team had all been gathered outside, meeting inside the bounce house. Someone had even brought out the whiteboard. "Everything but the pimples and the cough could be lymphoma. They could be a sign of secondary, opportunistic infection."

"I've confirmed strep," Foreman said. "I got a culture going this morning just in case."

"Strep secondary to something. If it's an opportunistic infection, she's worse than we thought. The pimples can't be Kaposi's, can they?" House asked them, bouncing his cane off of one of the walls and sending his fellows ducking out of its flightpath.

Alice flopped back onto the floor of the castle, staring at the ceiling. "If you'd actually ever laid eyes on the patient, you'd see that they can't be."

"Get Wilson to confirm lymphoma. And tell him that his cancer kids can come back in here now."

Foreman stood, bouncing towards the exit with the whiteboard in hand. "Let's go."

"All of us?" Chase asked sadly.

"Foreman and Chase 2.0 can go," House ruled. "But they're first in line when the cotton candy machine gets here."

Wilson ruled out lymphoma soon after visiting the girl. For the disease to be this advanced, he said, she would have had to have been exposed to massive doses of radiation. When the team met again, House handed Foreman and Alice sticks of pink and blue cotton candy. "Good job. There's a popcorn machine too, if you want any."

Alice took a bite before questioning his motives. "Why are you doing this?"

House bounced into his spot on the floor of the bouncy castle. "I wanted a bouncy castle. Cuddy made me share it with the gremlins in the pediatric ward, and she ordered the cotton candy machine. The popcorn machine came with it. What else have we got?"

"Pimples, neuropathy, fever, bleeding gums, and confirmed secondary strep," Chase read the board, catching a piece of popcorn in his mouth. Alice threw another that he caught before saying, "And I think she's got photophobia. The parents keep the blinds closed in the room all of the time. It can't be for privacy, since they're on the second floor with a view of the parking lot, so no one would be able to look in. The only reason to close the blinds would be the sun."

"Does she have really white-blonde hair, unlike the rest if the family?" House asked.

"Yes, why?"

"Those aren't pimples."

"Your daughter has Chédiak-Higashi syndrome," House announced to the Madsens as he limped into the room. "It's a genetic disorder that causes all of her symptoms, even the partial albinism."

"Will she be okay?"

"We can try antivirals," Taub said, trying to be practical. "They've been shown to help. But she's already progressed to the terminal phase of the disease."

"What do you mean? She was healthy a week ago," Mrs. Madsen objected, clutching her daughter.

Foreman shook his head. "In severe cases, it can progress quickly. But odds are you didn't attribute the sensitivity to sunlight and frequent childhood infections to the disease."

"How long has she got?"

Alice looked over at the girl lying in the hospital bed, animatedly talking to Chase, who seemed to be folding a paper hat for Charles the giraffe. "Maybe a week. Maybe a month. We'll know more once her organs begin to shut down. That's the next stage of the disease."

That evening, Chase and Alice sat at home on the couch. Their plates from dinner had been stacked on an ottoman. "You know, you'll spoil your dinner if you eat all that popcorn and cotton candy," Alice smiled.

"Too late."

"I'm glad House didn't return everything."

"Cuddy wouldn't have let him. She actually thought it was a great idea. Now she's thinking about having a hospital carnival once a year."

"Really? That's wonderful. It's good to see you laughing and being a kid again," Alice said. "All the kids in Pediatrics love you."

"I guess I have to make up for a crappy childhood." Alice raised an eyebrow, Chase explaining, "My dad was never around. My mom used to drink, and she'd hit us. I was never the favorite, so I'd be the one locked in my dad's study all day. That's kind of why I went into medicine. There's only so long you can pound on a door before you stop and pick up a book."

"That's awful."

"That's why I've promised myself that I'll never be the kind of parent that I had. And that I'd stay with my wife and not go trekking across Europe studying diseases."


	15. Chapter 15

Alice was in the clinic looking over some files when she got the phone call. As soon as her patient left, she gathered the team in the conference room with an urgent page. "Something wrong?" Chase asked, looking at his wife.

"Probably just saw a pregnant lady in the clinic and had to tell us all about it," House quipped, Taub punching him in the arm.

Alice looked around at all of them before gulping and relaying the news. "Thirteen's dead."

Chase held her hand during the funeral, Alice quietly crying. It was a small service, but the hospital was well-represented. Chase and Alice were sitting next to a distraught Foreman, House and Wilson sitting behind them. Cuddy was somewhere in the crowd as well.

House leaned forward when he felt the preacher was getting boring, whispering, "Let's play Which One of Thirteen's Doctor Friends Killed Her?" Wilson hit him with his own cane before Chase could reply.

Three days before, Alice had been in the lab with Chase. "There's a medical conference in Trenton that I've been invited to speak at coming up soon. They're putting me up in a hotel and everything."

"Cool," she smiled, reaching for a pipet. "Why'd they pick you?"

"Apparently House nominated me because they wanted a diverse panel of doctors. I'm their token foreign guy." He paused, then added, "Will you be okay without me for the weekend?"

She looked over, asking, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"It's just... It's only been a couple of months since..."

"I'll be okay."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah. My phone's ringing. Hello?" She held the phone to her ear with a shoulder, continuing to pipet a solution into a series of glass test tubes.

"Alice? It's Thirteen."

Setting the pipet down, Alice asked, "What's up? Chase and I have been meaning to visit, but-"

"I need your help. I need you to kill me."

Alice and Chase went over to Thirteen's apartment after work, parking a street down from the building. They knocked, Thirteen answering herself. "Come on in," she said, opening the door and nearly falling over, catching herself on the doorframe and taking Chase's offered hand.

They sat on the couch, Thirteen taking an arm chair. "Eileen is gone for the night," she explained. Her home health aid wouldn't be back until the morning. She nodded towards an open bottle of scotch on the table. "Have a drink."

Chase reached for the bottle, but Alice stopped him. "If there's any suspicion, they'll search the place and find fresh DNA and prints on that."

"You're sure you want to do this?" Chase asked, Thirteen nodding.

"I can tell it's starting. There's more chorea than ever before. I'm getting irritable, depressed, and apathetic. All three are seen in patients. I can't sleep. I can't eat a lot without Eileen's help. I can't think straight half of the time." She had begun crying, Alice moving to give her a hug. She reached out and slapped her, Alice recoiling towards Chase. "I'm sorry. I can't control it any more. I do that to Eileen a lot. The point is, I'd begun losing... What's the word? Control. I'd begun losing control fast a few months ago."

"Mutant Huntington's," Chase said. "Rapid progression fits."

"Don't diagnose me, you idiot!" Thirteen sighed, laying back in the chair and jiggling her foot impatiently. "I'm sorry. I can't help it. I already know what's happening. I've got three, five years as a long shot."

"But you could have five years."

"Living what kind of life?" Thirteen objected. "I'd be a... a vegetable. Or almost."

"We'll do it if you're sure," Alice said, taking a syringe, a bottle of morphine, and a pair of gloves out of her purse.

"You stole that?" Thirteen asked, nodding at the bottle.

"Sort of. I knocked one over in a patient room. Well, I knocked over an identical bottle and swiped this one. So it was officially accounted for as 'broken by accident' and 'cleaned up thoroughly'. It doesn't exist anymore, as far as PPTH knows," Alice explained.

"You crafty bitch... I'm sorry. That was good thinking."

"Your eyelid is twitching," Chase pointed out.

"I already know that, you f-"

"Thirteen," Alice interrupted, "is there anything else you want to do?"

"Will it win me any redeeming points if I say both of you?" Thirteen laughed, taking a swig from the bottle on the table, nearly shattering it as she set the bottle back down. "I've already done everything I can. Anything else... Anything else would be horrible or kill me."

Alice nodded, getting up to wash her hands before donning her gloves. In the meantime, Chase asked, "Is there anything or anyone you want to pray to? I'm not a clergyman, but-"

"I'm at peace with everything. I've done a lot of thinking lately. I'm good. I just... just want to go."

"Alright."

Alice came back, readying the syringe. Chase pulled on a pair of gloves that he produced from his own pocket. "What are you doing?" Alice questioned, swabbing Thirteen's arm.

"We do this together. That way you don't have to feel like you were the one who killed her." Chase readied a syringe using the same bottle. "It'll also go faster."

Alice nodded, turning to Thirteen. "I'm sorry."

"Me too."

"It was great working with you, and we'll always remember you."

"No platitudes. Just... Please talk to me as I go out."

"About what?" Alice gave her the first injection, checking the pulse in her neck as Chase gave her the second and readied a needle again.

"Tell me what it was like...when you met."

"It was pouring rain," Chase said, injecting her again. "Her aunt was in the hospital. House had taken the case, and sent me down to find Alice. She was beautiful, and I knew it the minute I saw her."

"He wasn't too slow to compliment me," Alice tried to smile as Thirteen closed her eyes. "I loved him from almost the-"

Chase was shaking his head as he checked her radial pulse. "She's gone."

They carefully staged the scene to look like Thirteen had overdosed on her own. Alice spilled the bottle of morphine on the floor, as if Thirteen had dropped it. Chase made sure her fingerprints were on both syringes, throwing one on the ground near the couch, as if it had rolled away after being dropped. When they were done, they left through a different door than the one they had entered through, making sure no neighbors were around to see them.

"Do you think we did the right thing?" Alice asked as Chase drove home.

"Yes. And if anything like that ever happens to me, I want to die the same way. Sane and on my own terms."


	16. Chapter 16

Alice rolled over in bed, getting up although her alarm wasn't set to go off for another twenty minutes. As she walked into the bathroom, she turned and looked at the empty bed. Chase hadn't come home.

"Hey, you're on speaker," she told Wilson as she was applying her makeup, gently setting her phone on the corner of the sink. "You're already at the hospital, right?"

"Yeah, I was stuck here overnight with a lady dying of breast cancer. What's going on?"

"Is Chase there?"

"What do you mean? He left with Taub and Foreman around ten last night."

Alice sighed, looking at herself in the mirror. "He never came home. I... I'll be in soon. Thanks." She hung up, thinking that if he didn't turn up at the hospital, she'd have to call the police.

It had been two days since the funeral, and House's team had taken on another case. So far, the patient had spiked a fever, and was presenting with massive swelling in his joints. House had taken the case when the man's eyes started bleeding almost uncontrollably in the emergency room. Alice walked into the conference room, where Foreman was making coffee. "Heard you and the boys went out last night," she began, walking over to make her own cup.

"We grabbed a drink, in light of recent events. I actually went home early, around midnight. I couldn't stand it all." He took a sip, shook his head, and stirred in more sugar.

"Hmm. Where'd you go?"

"Wait, Chase didn't tell you we went out?" Foreman shook his head. "We were at Roxie's, downtown."

"Hmm."

"That doesn't sound too good." He leaned on the counter, watching her. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, except the fact that my husband didn't come home last night."

House limped in, followed by Taub. "Shorty here has legs so tiny he can't outpace a cripple." House paused, looking around and sensing new gossip in the air. "Where's Captain Kangaroo?"

"I don't know. And I'm about to let the Princeton Police Department find him," Alice answered. "How's the patient?"

"He's stable, at least for now. But we've ruled out a nervous system problem," Taub said slowly, swatting House's arm away when he tried shining a flashlight at him.

"Someone was out late."

"Gastroenteritis?" Foreman asked, taking a seat.

"Can't be. There's no GI involvement."

The team turned as the glass door was opened, Chase entering silently. Alice gave him a look, House commenting, "Nice shirt. Looks just like the one you wore yesterday, but a lot less ironed-by-a-caring-wife." Chase took his seat, looking at the previous night's report in silence. "Okayyyyy then," House whistled, "Tiny and Incredibly Pissed Off, go do a home search. Darky and Suspiciously Unshaved go do an LP for infection."

Taub held onto the armrest for dear life. "Watch it, you're speeding."

"I'm doing fine," Alice snapped.

"You're doing 70 in a 45 zone," Taub objected.

"What happened last night?"

"Chase, Foreman, and I went out and had a few drinks."

"At Roxie's."

"Yes, at Roxie's. Will you slow down?" Taub turned around in his seat, waving in apology to a driver flipping them off.

"The strip club Roxie's?"

"Yes. Now for god's sake, slow down!"

Alice slowed, but not soon enough. She took a sharp turn that sent Taub flying into the passenger window. "Sorry. What road am I looking for?"

"It's a left on Mulberry." Taub rubbed his shoulder. "I went home around one in the morning."

"And my husband?"

"Well, he sort of left when I did."

"'Sort of'? He went back?" Alice asked, pushing her glasses up on her nose.

"Well, I don't think so. Here, I took a picture." Taub scrolled through images on his phone until he found it, just as they pulled into a driveway. He tilted the screen so Alice could see. It was definitely Chase, stumbling out of the club with a very buxom blonde in a bunny outfit, if it could even be classified as clothing.

Alice swallowed, calmly asking, "What was her name?"

"Brandi, I think. Are you going to punch something? You look eerily calm." They got out of the car, Taub volunteering to jimmy open the lock on the front door.

"Did you take any other pictures?" Alice followed him into the house, looking around the dirty entranceway.

"Do you really want to see them?" Taub swabbed the floor, taking a sample of the dirt that was caked all over it.

"Yes."

He stood up, brushed the dirt off of his pants, and tapped his password into his phone. He had gotten pictures of Chase and Brandi laughing, Chase doing shots off of her chest, and the beginning of a lap dance. "Look, I should have stopped him, but-"

"He was drunk," Alice finished. " And so were you. I'm going to check for mold in the bathroom."

"You're being really calm about this I'm thinking I should be worried."

"You aren't my husband, who most likely slept with a stripper last night."

"We found a cache of pills in his medicine cabinet, way more than any normal person would have," Taub reported. House continued bouncing a tennis ball off of the wall of his office. "And there was a bunch of mold in his cabinets. Living alone for 30 years hasn't been great for him."

"Dr. Chase 2.0, ideas?"

"Maybe he's abusing one or more of the prescriptions we found. We should do a blood draw to confirm."

"Good. Go get one."

"I'm sorry I was out late with the guys. I should've called," Chase said, standing next to Alice in the lab running various tests on a blood sample. "I spent the night on Foreman's couch. I'd have crashed for sure if I drove anywhere."

"Mmhm. How was Brandi?"

"I don't drink a lot of brandy."

"Well," House said, bursting into the room. "Thought you ought to know our guy is now coughing up blood."

Alice and Chase raced from the lab, getting there in time for the man to look at them before passing out.

Alice sat at home, looking at the clock. It was nearing twelve-thirty, and Chase wasn't home yet. They hadn't had a moment to talk since their patient had fainted, having to intubate him and meet with the team. She had left around six, Chase promising that he'd meet her at home once the tests were done. At first, she figured he was running late. But when ten o'clock rolled around, she had called the hospital. He had left along with Foreman and Taub, a nurse told her. Foreman picked up on the third ring, saying he had left the hospital, hit the gym, and gone home. Taub and Chase weren't answering their phones. She turned on the TV with a sigh, looking at the driveway, where a car was missing.

She had begun to doze off when her cell phone buzzed. It was a text from Taub, saying he had just left Roxie's. A couple of seconds later, a photo of Chase and an unidentified brunette followed. 'Her name's Cherry' was the last text she got.

Alice was sitting in bed with a cup of tea when she heard the front door open. She looked over at the clock, which read 2:56 in the morning. There were footsteps coming up the stairs, Chase opening the bedroom door and stopping suddenly when he realized that she was still awake. Alice put her glasses on and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, I should have called."

"Where were you last night? And tonight? I was worried sick."

"M-Mike's. The sports bar downtown," he answered, taking off his tie. "Taub and Foremaaaan and I went."

"Robert, you're drunk."

"You never c-c-call me Robert."

"And I talked to Taub. He said you guys were at Roxie's. Again."

"Noooo." He waved off the accusation, heading into the bathroom.

Alice perched on the ledge of the bathtub as Chase brushed his teeth. "Did you sleep with her too?"

"What?"

"Cherry. You seemed to have had a good time with Brandi the other night."

"Babeeee, those pictures are from my bachelor party."

"The stripper calendar on the wall behind you said differently. How was she?"

"Goooood," Chase smiled. Seeing Alice's expression, he corrected himself. "I mean, uh, horrible. Not like you, babe."

"Why'd you go out?"

"I killed a woman a few months ago. I lost my kid last week." He started unbuttoning his shirt, but had little success.

"God, you're really drunk. Thirteen died last week, and we lost the baby a few months ago."

"Oh, honey, I'm so tired. I just wanna go to bed. Please."

"I'm sorry. I should have known. That's why you slept with so many women before me. You crave adventure and new things. I... I'm sorry if I'm no longer an adventure. You've already won the prize, you slept with the girl, hooray. I'm sorry if I'm no longer interesting. I'm sorry if I'm not-"

"Honeyyyy, I love you. Please, let's just go to bed and talk about it in the morning."

"Chase, I am going to go downstairs and make another cup of tea. I want you to grab some clothes and pack your suitcase. I don't care if you spend the night at Taub's or Foreman's or Wilson's or even House's apartment. Go to that hotel for your conference a few days early. As long as you aren't doing another stripper. But I don't think you should stay here tonight. I just killed one of my close friends, and I recently had a miscarriage. I need my husband. So, when you're ready to be my husband and get through things with me, you can come back. But as long as you're dealing with things the way your family always has, I don't want you here." She turned, heading for the stairs. "I'll call a cab. There's no way I'm letting you drive anywhere."

The taxi driver honked, Chase heading for the door with his suitcase. Alice hugged him wordlessly, kissing his cheek before she watched him get in the cab. She closed the door when it turned the corner, collapsing against it and finally allowing herself to cry.


	17. Chapter 17

Alice rushed into the conference room, nearly late as taking her seat as Taub was saying, "Symptoms are reducing. Whatever we did, we did right."

"That's not good enough," House said. "We need to know what was making his eyes bleed all over the sheets before we can release him. Well, look who's here. And without her koala bear."

"House," Taub warned.

"Trouble in paradise, or trouble Down Under?" Alice didn't reply. Looking around, House added, "You can't say that wasn't great. I've been waiting to use that one for a while."

"If you really want to know, he's going through withdraw, which is why he's improving. He was taking an experimental drug as a painkiller, and has gotten addicted to it. He just didn't realize there were side effects. The patient, I mean," Alice clarified, resting her glasses on the top of her head. "As for my husband, since you're simply dying to hear about it, he's slept with two strippers in the last two days and has been drunk most of the time in between."

House frowned. "Aww, I had bets on three."

"Now if you'll excuse me," she said, standing and heading for the door, "I'm going to get our patient another bag of fluids and make sure he isn't trying to scam pills off of a nurse."

Chase sat in his hotel room, thinking about calling his wife. She would surely kill him if this hangover didn't. The ringing was loud in his ears, and he was relieved when he finally got through to her answering machine. "This is Dr. Alice Chase. I can't answer right now, but if you leave your name, number, and a brief message, I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

He smiled at her voice, waiting a second after the beep to leave a message. "Uh, hi, honey. It's me. I'm sorry about everything. I love you and... I guess I couldn't handle being the strong one through all of this. If you want me to come home after this conference, let me know. If... If not, I'll pick up my stuff. But I just wanted you to know that I love you with all I am and I'm sorry I had to put you through this." Chase bit his lip, looking out of the window and thinking that he had wrecked his marriage by being an idiot when the building began to shake. There were no earthquakes in New Jersey, were there?

Wilson was lounging in the break room watching the news when Alice walked in, visibly shaken. "What did House do?" He sat up, giving her a space on the sofa.

"Nothing. My husband's slept with two strippers and has been drunk most of the time in the past two days. I have no idea what to do about it."

"As a doctor, you both need full STD panels."

"I kicked him out. We haven't slept together since before this happened. And I've already done a full panel, just in case there's more that he hasn't let slip. I'm fine."

"As your friend, I'd say talk to him. Try not to throttle him, and ask why he went out in the first place." Wilson paused as Alice's phone went off. She looked at it, then declined the call. "Was that him?"

"Yeah. But I'll call him back later. I don't want to lose him, James."

"I know. It's hard, but if he's calling you, there's still a chance. He wants to talk to you. You just need a real conversation."

"What if he's done? What if he just wants to go back to partying and strippers and... His ways of dealing with things?"

"You have a degree in psychology. So I'll ask you; can people change?"

"Of course."

"Then he may have," Wilson said as her pager began buzzing. "He... What hotel is he at?"

"The Royal Crown in Trenton, why?" She looked at the page, which read, 'Pls. head to ambulances. Triage team needed. Will dispatch accordingly. - F'. "It's Foreman. I think it's real."

"Alice, look, that's why." Wilson pointed to the television, which was showing images of a building that seemed to have been bombed, the local news network broadcasting continuing coverage.

The newscaster had switched over to an emergency broadcast, where an on-the-scene reporter was saying, "The Royal Crown Hotel in Trenton, where an unknown explosive device just brought down the building. Emergency first responders are on their way. There's no way of confirming how many survivors there are, Jeff-"

Alice looked at Wilson, gasping, "Oh my God, Chase", before running out of the room.


	18. Chapter 18

Taub, Foreman, House, Wilson, and Alice rode to the scene together. A basic triage team had already been set up, but they were needed to assist with finding and saving more people. "The last time I talked to him, I was mad. I wanted to... What if that's the last thing I'll ever tell him?" Alice twisted her wedding ring on her finger.

"It's going to be alright," Wilson offered, taking her hand. "Things will work themselves out."

"No they won't," House scoffed. "We've got a pile of rubble. Either he's dead, in the pile, or listed with the team."

As soon as they arrived, Alice jumped out of the ambulance. She ran to where a harried woman stood, taking down the names of everyone who had been found. "Dr. Robert Chase, blond, blue eyes, about 5' 10", Caucasian, 36. Is he on your list?"

The woman looked her up and down, noting that she was a doctor and not just a concerned relative. "Sorry, honey. He hasn't been reported yet. Check back with me later on, if you want. Did he work with you?"

"He's my husband."

Alice took off, heading for the rest of the team. "We're splitting up. Take Wilson and make yourselves useful. Sort people out, patch some wounds, find people, whatever," House instructed.

She nodded, Wilson walking over as Taub and Foreman went off, House limping towards a tent that had been pitched as a headquarters for emergency operations. They decided to take a quadrant near what once was the pool. "James, help me." Alice was squatting next to a young girl. "Her hip is broken. We've got to get her stabilized. It's going to be okay, sweetie."

"Where's everyone?"

"Can you tell me your name?" Alice asked as she and Wilson tried to reposition the girl and called for a gurney.

"Callie Edwards. My brother-"

"Adam?" The girl nodded. "Adam Edwards is on the list. I had to check for someone, and I remember he's on the list of people they found alive. Both of you are going to be okay."

The girl was put on a stretcher and carried away, Alice and Wilson moving on. No one was found in the rubble of a pool house that stood near the water. Alice was moving a collapsed table when Wilson called, "Over here! She's got a pulse."

Alice carefully made her way over to where Wilson was helping a middle-aged woman stand up. "You've got a fractured wrist and a slight concussion, but you don't seem to be in any immediate danger," he told her. "Head over to that brightly lit tent and they can patch it up. Watch your step."

"Thank you," the woman told him, starting to walk. "I can't believe what happened."

They picked through another few feet of rubble before finding a six-year-old boy, conscious but bleeding from his ears. He was carefully wheeled to the triage area, where Taub and Foreman had taken over. "We've got him," Foreman assured her. Turning to the boy, he said, "I'm Dr. Foreman. Follow the tip of this pen with your eyes. Don't turn your head. Okay?"

Alice was making her way back to where she and Wilson were working when she heard a strained voice near her feet. "Honey? Alice, is that you?"

She looked down, dropping to her knees. "James! He's stuck!" Chase was indeed stuck, rubble covering most of him. She grabbed his hand, saying, "We're going to get you out of here. It's alright. I'm right here."

"I'm so sorry. About everything. If you want me to move out-"

"No. Right now, I want you to stay alive for me. Please." She kissed him softly, Wilson removing rubble from on top of him. "What hurts?"

"My chest. I think I broke a couple of ribs. And it's kind of hard to breathe. And... Honey, I can't feel my legs. At all. Oh god…" Realization flooded his face. "I'm paralyzed."

"We don't know that. Not yet." She ran a finger down the side of his face, noticing that it was wet.

"I think I've got-" Wilson grunted, pushing the last heavy piece of concrete aside.

"Get a few people and a gurney," Alice instructed. She turned back to Chase, saying, "You'll be okay. I'll be right here the whole time, okay?"

"You're... I can't..." He blinked slowly before losing consciousness.

Alice sat in the back of the ambulance, covered in the ash and dirt and dust and grime of what once had been a grand hotel. Chase's lung had been re-inflated and he was on oxygen while they were on the way to the hospital. Alice held his hand, silently praying that he would wake up, but hoping that he wouldn't, for the sake of not being in pain.

Chase blinked slowly, not used to the harsh ambulance lights. Alice was talking to one of the paramedics, rubbing his hand with her own. His wife was all he could concentrate on, all he wanted to think about as he tried to block out the immense pain of having been crushed by a building. She was beautiful, although she was covered in grime and sweat and other people's blood. He could make out tear tracks in the dirt on her face. _She must have cried a lot in the past few days. I should have been there. She deserves someone much better than me. I wish I could go back-_

 _"_ Chase?" Alice smiled for what seemed like the first time in a while, noticing that he was awake. "Thank goodness."

"I-"

"Ssh, don't try to speak. We're on the way to the hospital. You've got at least four broken ribs and your lung collapsed. You've also got a broken leg and something's wrong with your spine, but they aren't sure exactly what it is yet. They don't think you'll be paralyzed, but a few tests are gonna be needed before there's a definitive judgement."

"ETA two minutes," the driver called.

Alice leaned down to whisper in her husband's ear. "Whatever happened over these past few days, we can talk about later. I just want you to get better now." She gave him a kiss, saying, "I'm not going to leave. I love you, and... Oh, Chase..."

He squeezed her hand as they pulled into the hospital, whispering, "I love you."


	19. Chapter 19

Alice sat in the hospital bed with Chase, whose leg had been casted and whose ribs had been straightened to the best of the doctors' ability. He was asleep now, but she was still too jumpy to try to close her eyes. All she could think of was the adrenaline and the terror of the last few hours, and how she had almost lost her husband.

Foreman, Taub, and Wilson had taken turns sitting in the room while Alice had gone to wash all of the grime from the collapsed hotel off in the locker room and found something to eat in the hospital's cafeteria. At least one of them had been there all the time since she gotten back, too, keeping her company and watching over their friend. It was nearing 5 AM when another doctor walked in looking grave, a chart in his hand. "Can I speak to you in the hall for a second, Dr. Chase?" the man asked, setting the chart down at the end of the bed. Alice nodded, following him out. The doctor turned to her and began to explain the situation. "Your husband has a condition called a spinal stenosis. He has something pressing on a couple of vertebrae in his spine, which is paralyzingly his legs. It's most likely a piece of bone that was broken during the collapse. There is a surgery to fix it, but, in his case, there may be severe complications. He's had spinal surgery before after an unfortunate accident at the hospital. That puts him at a much higher risk for infection, tears in the spinal membrane, and possibly permanent paralysis."

"He's definitely going to be paralyzed if he doesn't have the surgery, right?" She crossed her arms, glancing back at Chase's form lying in the hospital bed.

"Most likely. Some clots can resolve on their own, but we don't know for sure if-"

"Do the surgery." Alice decided immediately. "He deserves at least a fighting chance."

"Okay. He'll be in OR 2 in half an hour." The doctor paused a moment before adding, "Normally, people aren't allowed in the rounds this early or on a case this severe. But if you want to sit and watch, Doctor, you're more than welcome."

"Thank you." Alice went back into the room, taking up her position next to Chase. Foreman was slumped over in a chair in the corner, trying to sleep in the hospital room. She kissed her sleeping husband's forehead, saying, "You're having surgery in an hour, babe. There's a risk, but they think that they can help you. You know, when I heard about the bombing, I was so mad at myself. The last thing I told you was to get out of my house. What if that had been the last thing I'd ever said? I'm sorry, Chase. I'm sorry if I'm no longer that adventure that you wanted. But I'm still going to be here for you. I'll be there in surgery, and I'll be there afterwards. When you get better, if you decide something different, that's... I'll deal with it then. But for now, I'm not going anywhere. I love you so much, and I'm just glad you survived."

"No," he told her weakly, opening his eyes. "I don't want you to go anywhere."

"You heard all of that?"

"I was awake, yeah. I'm sorry. I've been an idiot. We went out because of Thirteen, and after a few drinks I just couldn't say no to more. We just kept buying. And got carried away." He talked softly, trying not to stress his ribs or his recently re-inflated lung. "And the next night... Taub said I looked like hell and offered to buy me a drink. I shouldn't have... When I woke up with her, I barely remembered any of it. But I felt so guilty... I came home to apologize, but... I'll never leave you again. I promise."

"It's okay, we don't have to talk about this now. Actually, you shouldn't be talking at all. It'll be time to go soon."

Alice walked with the orderlies wheeling Chase to the operating room. She finally let go of his hand as they reached the doors, promising, "I'll be up in the window the whole time. I'll be there when you're knocked out, and I'll be right next to you when you wake up."

"I love you."

"I know." She gave him a kiss before heading up to the viewing window, a lump in her throat.

* * *

A.N.: Yeah, it's a kind of short chapter, but I have to establish stuff, you know? Don't worry, I have some longer chapters in the works. But for now, I hope you enjoyed this one and have a fabulous day (or night, if you're binge-reading fanfics in the middle of the night like I do)!


	20. Chapter 20

The surgery didn't take very long, but Alice watched unblinkingly in the observation area for the entire procedure. When the head surgeon looked up and gave a thumbs-up sign, she finally let go of the breath that she didn't know she had been holding. All of the blood on his hands had scared her, but everything seemed to have gone well. She just hoped and prayed that it worked.

Chase blinked slowly, adjusting to the light of the recovery room. Alice was asleep in the chair next to him, holding his hand. Her glasses were balanced on the top of her head, and she looked like she hadn't slept in a year. He watched her, thinking of how much he had hurt her with a few stupid mistakes. He'd be lucky if she didn't leave or kick him out for good once he got better.

"Honey? You awake?" she yawned, sensing that he had woken, rubbing her eyes with her free hand.

"Yeah. Just woke up," he lied.

She stretched, yawned again and checked her watch. "How do you feel?"

"Like I was thrown in a washing machine with a bag of rocks. Everything hurts."

"Everything?" Alice asked, sitting up quickly.

"Yes. I feel like... Like I fell off the top of a huge wave."

"Everything?" she asked again, trying to suppress a grin.

"I can breathe, but my chest feels like it's being punched by an elephant. My spine's incredibly sore, and I've got a wicked headache. My leg feels like it's been shattered," he clarified. "Well, it was shattered."

"Everything?" she smiled, squeezing his hand.

"Are you okay?"

"I meant... everything hurts? Like... You can feel your legs?"

"Oh my god, I can," he realized in his post-anesthesia haze.

"You're gonna be able to walk." She tried to hug him, but only managed to hug his shoulders. Anything else would have put him in even more pain. "You're going to be okay."

Alice spent her days alternating between sitting in the armchair and on the side of Chase's bed. She would watch TV with him, read the latest gossip from the magazines at the nurses' station to him, or just sit there and talk. One of the nurses usually brought her food from the hospital cafeteria when patient meals were brought around. Taub, Foreman, Wilson, and sometimes even House would stop in to say hello or get involved in the card games that they had running with various doctors and nurses. At least one of them stayed with Chase whenever Alice went to the locker room to take a shower or made a quick trip home to bring things back. Whenever he fell asleep during the day (which was a lot, with a constant morphine drip), she could be observed reading or painting her nails or quietly consulting with the diagnostics team on a differential at the door. She slept in the chair or on a cot that someone had brought in.

"She never leaves. What a helicopter mom," House said, looking into the room.

Wilson shook his head, handing over an x-ray. "Your actual patient doesn't have a teratoma. And by this point, Chase could probably use some helicopter parenting. She's good for him, and they like each other. Don't try to screw it up."

"But there's still the question I've been asking since the beginning. Why? She's too good for him. She spends over half her time worrying about him, and he just goes on being Chase. She's got to have abandonment issues."

"They're happy, House. Let them be."

"She doesn't leave him alone. The longest she's been gone is an hour and a half. No wonder he slept with those strippers."

"House," Wilson warned, "she loves him. Look at the way she talks to him, the way she's always happy, or at least happier, when they're together. And he loves her. You're observant. Surely you see the way his eyes light up when she walks in the room."

"With a body like that, she'd make anybody's eyes light up. Of course he likes her."

"Oh, yes, and it's not all the time they're spent together or shared interests or anything."

"Shared interests?" House scoffed. "He's a surfing playboy and she's a total nerd. They don't like the same-"

"House, not every marriage has an ulterior motive."


	21. Chapter 21

Alice sat reading a book about infectious diseases that she had found in the differential diagnosis conference room, glancing over at her husband ever so often. Chase had been asleep for around half an hour. It had been four days since the bombing, which, she had found out, was the result of a botched assassination attempt on a senator. Apparently the bomber had gotten the wrong hotel, ruining many lives in his error.

There was a quiet tap on the door, the woman standing there careful not to wake Chase. Alice put down her book and put her glasses back on, the blurry blonde figure taking shape. She walked over to the door, opening it only slightly. "Yes?"

"Is he alright?" Cameron asked, looking at the hospital bed.

"He'll heal. Why are you here?" Alice crossed her arms. "Sorry to be brash, but he's my husband now. We've - he's just been through a lot."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be here. But I was flying in for the conference, and when I heard-"

"Allison? What are you doing here?" Chase asked, yawning. "Oh, Alice, babe, it hurts to even yawn."

"She's just leaving. Go back to sleep, sweetheart. I'll be there in a minute." Alice stepped out of the room, Cameron already in the hallway. "He's hurt, and he needs me. He doesn't need failed relationships dragged up again, especially now."

"I'm sorry. I should go."

"Go, and be happy. Please, just don't come back. You deserve to move on. Goodbye, Allison."

Cameron nodded. "I'm going to grab a cup of coffee in the cafeteria before I go, if you want to talk. If not, I totally understand. Goodbye, Alice. I hope you're happy."

Alice watched her walk off, going back into the room when Cameron had gotten into the elevator, the doors sliding closed as Alice smiled at her husband. "Was that... Allison?" Chase asked sleepily.

"No, it's just a dream, honey. Close your eyes and get some more sleep."

"Mmh. How long before they have to check me again?"

"About an hour. I'm going to head down to the cafeteria for a few minutes and grab a snack. Do you want anything?"

"No. I think I'm gonna go back to sleep." Chase was asleep before he could fully get the last word out.

Alice grabbed a cup of coffee and dropped into the seat across from Cameron in one of the cafeteria's booths. Both were silent for a few minutes before Alice asked, "What's his name?"

Cameron looked at her wedding band, smiling. "Rodney. We have a daughter, too. Her name's Emma."

"So I take it you like Chicago?" Alice took a sip of her coffee.

"I'm head of the emergency department. It's great. Hectic beyond belief, but great. Working with House really helped prepare me for it. What about you? Do you like it here?"

"Like you said, it's crazy and a lot of stress. But we have a great team now. We built it back up from when you left, from when we had another doctor leave… Foreman's on his way up to Cuddy's spot at the end of the month, so we'll shrink a bit, but it's great."

"You guys don't have kids yet, do you?" Cameron asked. "Sorry, just curious."

"Uh, no. I... I had a miscarriage, and, well, maybe one day."

"I'm sorry. You deserve a great life. You're smart, and pretty, and an amazing person. I'm glad Chase has you."

"I'm sorry if I rushed you out of the room," Alice told her. "It's just... He's gone through a lot, and he doesn't need to relive some of it. He needs to get better. But, if, after all of this, you and Rodney want to get together with us, grab some dinner or something, that would be okay with me."

"Sure, thanks." Cameron stood, Alice walking out with her. They stopped at the door to the hospital. "It's good seeing you again."

"You too. Bye, Cameron."

"Bye, Ellie." She gave her a hug before heading outside. Alice watched her walk away, and then got in the elevator to return to Chase's side.


	22. Chapter 22

"Look, it's a hopping kangaroo," House quipped as Alice held the door for Chase. It was their first day back after the accident, and they had already been stopped by many well-wishers in the hall. "Welcome back. Now take a seat. I trust you've read the file?"

"The one you had Taub leave on our doorstep this morning?" Alice asked, dropping the folder onto the table. "Yes, I had it read to me on the drive to work."

"So?"

"We've got a fifty-year-old woman with insomnia, weight loss, and panic attacks. Sweating and high blood pressure too. Could it be possible that she's a caffeine addict?" Taub asked.

"She'd be going through withdrawal in the hospital, which she isn't. Next!" House easily countered him.

"Perimenopause and an underlying anxiety condition," Chase proposed, closing his copy of the file.

"Did that accident bruise your DDXing skills?" House joked. "She's had a psych evaluation and they found the panic attacks aren't linked to a disorder. Hormones are off for menopause. Park, you're up."

"Advanced mono."

"Would've shown up in the blood," Taub said, shooting the idea down.

"TB," Alice concluded. "It all fits. The panic attacks are her natural response to getting sick with the condition that no doctor has recognized in the past…" she paused, consulting the file, "four trips to different clinics. Twelve different medications. She's driving herself crazy trying to find the answer that everyone is ignoring because it seems so unlikely."

"Or an environmental toxin," Park added.

"Taub and Park, go search the home for any potential toxins, Crutchie the paperboy and the ginger, get a chest x-ray and sputum culture," House instructed.

"Amanda, we need you to lie as still as possible. This shouldn't take too long," Chase instructed through the microphone. Turning to Alice, he said, "We can start now. Hey, who's Crutchie the paperboy?"

"He's from Newsies," Alice explained, pressing a few buttons to activate the machine. "It's a musical."

"Did you read that email about the conference?"

"No, what email? Did they set a trial date?"

"No, not that one. Foreman sent this thing around. Apparently the entire team has been invited to attend a medical conference in a few months," Chase told her. "Would you want to go?"

"Sure. Where is it?"

"Hawaii. I can teach you how to surf. I should be all healed up by then."

"Hawaii sounds great."

A few hours later, the team had reassembled in the diagnostics conference room. "No environmental toxins," Park told the team. "The house was fairly clean."

"No growth spots on the lungs either," Alice reported. "And the cultures came back negative. I also tried the skin test, just in case we screwed up the cultures, but that was negative too. It's not TB."

"Has she been abusing sleeping pills?" Chase asked Taub and Park. "I mean, were there a lots of empty bottles in her house? If she initially presented with insomnia, she would have started taking them and may have gotten addicted or started overdosing regularly. It could explain a lot of her symptoms."

"Yes, but she's been here for three days now. Her system would have flushed most of it out."

"Not if her kidneys aren't working properly," Park contradicted. "We should get a creatinine test done."

"Check for masses while you're at it. Chases, back to scans. Park and Taub, pump her full of creatinine."

"Amanda, you have to stop moving," Chase said over the microphone. "You're distorting the images."

"But there are bugs in here," she complained, itching at her arms.

Alice gave Chase a questioning look before they walked into the MRI room. Amanda sat up after coming out of the machine. Immediately, she jumped back, crashing into the machine rather violently. "What the hell happened to your face?"

"What?" Chase asked. "I'm perfectly-"

"What do you see?" Alice questioned. "In the machine, and on Dr. Chase."

"There are beetles in your machine. And Dr. Chase, it looks like you've been in the sun for too long. You're melting. You should get some ice or something."

"We can add hallucinations," Alice reported, writing it on the whiteboard. "But there are no kidney masses, and blood urea is in the normal range."

"So far, the creatinine test is showing normal function," Taub added, looking at his pager. "A nurse just gave her diazepam. She started seizing."

When Alice went down to check on the creatinine test, she noticed the woman's hands trembling. She came back with a report. "The nurse made the wrong call. It wasn't a seizure. It was a set of violent convulsions. It's in her hands, legs, and abdomen. They must have mistaken them for a seizure."

"What's your brilliant theory? You and Chase are a few behind, since you've been out for so long," House yawned.

"FFI. We do a genetic test to confirm."

The next morning, Chase and Alice walked into the conference room to find Park poring over pages of test results. "She's positive. Good job, Alice."

"Fatal familial insomnia," House began, walking into the patient's room, "is an extremely rare inherited prion disorder that causes all of your symptoms, and will never let you sleep. You've sped the condition up by downing sleeping pills like they were M&M's."

"Am I going to die?" Amanda gasped.

"The word 'fatal' is in the title. But it'll be Sleeping Beauty style. You'll fall into a sleep-like state that deepens into a coma and then just ends."

That night, Alice sat in bed reading. Chase limped over, setting his crutches against the nightstand. "I think that's how I'd want to die," he said, climbing into bed next to her. "In my sleep. I don't want to be able to feel it."

"Thanks for that comforting thought, just as I get ready to go to bed," Alice exclaimed with a laugh. She set her book down, folding her glasses on top of it.

"Not now," Chase reassured her. "When I'm 85 or 90 and I've lived a good, long life, I hope I die in my sleep. Right now, I still want to be able to wake up next to you every morning."


	23. Chapter 23

"Six-year-old girl presenting with shortness of breath, cough, fatigue and chronic muscle aches," Park read from the file that House had tossed her. "Sounds like a case of pneumonia or bronchitis."

"Lung scans were clear," Taub offered, shaking his head. "That would be unusual for either condition. We could run cultures to double check if you want."

"Croup?"

"No barking cough," Chase reported. "Pleural effusion? It says here that she took a pretty hard fall in gymnastics class. It could have caused a leak."

"What about an environmental toxin?" Taub asked. "There are plenty that could cause all of her symptoms."

"Taub, take the croc hunter and do a home search for toxins. Park and the other Chase, get an X-ray," House instructed.

Alice led the girl to the X-ray room, asking her about gymnastics. "You know, I did ballet as a kid. I never took to gymnastics, though. How do you like it?"

"It's pretty fun. Falling hurts, though."

"Okay, we're going to need you to lie down really still. We need to take more pictures of your lungs."

"What the hell is that?" Taub asked, looking at the X-ray. They had all reconvened in the conference room, and were now looking at the images taped to a window. "It looks like she's got a continuous mass growing along the sides and backs of both of her lungs."

"WILSON!" House shouted at the wall, knocking on it with his cane. "COME HERE!"

Wilson walked over, coming in through House's office. "If you were trying to wake every baby down in neonatal, you've done it. What do you want, House?"

"Do you think our lucky kid has cancer?" He pointed to the X-rays that had been plastered to a light box.

"It looks like it. I'd say pulmonary carcinoma, stage I. We'll need a biopsy to confirm, but it looks operable." Wilson began heading back to his office, but stopped to glance out into the hallway and say, "Good luck. Foreman's coming."

Sure enough, just as Wilson left, the door swung open. "What was that about?" Foreman asked. "I have a budget meeting, and we could all hear you screaming."

"I needed an opinion."

"You have four other well-qualified doctors right here."

"I needed an oncologist. Out patient has cancer."

"It wouldn't have taken too long to get Wilson from his office. It's ten steps."

House held up his cane, objecting, "But I'm a cripple."

"You're a cripple with a cell phone and a pager. Don't let me hear you yelling to other departments again," Foreman warned before going back to his office.

"Well, go cut into that kid."

It was the first time Chase had been back in the OR since the building collapse. He had been allowed to lead the biopsy, and had fallen back into his old position easily. "Needle," he requested, Park handing it over. "Okay, can one of you turn the screen a bit? Thanks." He watched the location of the tumor on the screen, making sure the biopsy needle was positioned correctly. "What the heck?"

"Is it the tumor?" Taub asked, looking at the image. It appeared that Chase had hit the center of the tumor.

"Not unless rumors are supposed to feel crunchy."

"She's got bone growing by her lungs, like her ribs are connecting," Chase reported to House once their patient had been brought out of the OR.

"That's the side she recently fell on, right?"

Taub consulted the file. "Yeah. She fell last week, and was brought in to a clinic near her home. They said she was fine, and that it would just be a lot of bruising."

House thought for a moment before ruling that he needed more information. "Get me a full-body X-ray."

"Okay..." The team got up slowly, wondering what House was thinking.

The full-body X-ray revealed several bones growing in odd places. They brought the image into the patient's room, her parents staring at it in shock. "Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva," House explained. "Also called FOP. Your daughter has a mutation in the way her body repairs itself. In normal people like Dr. Chase here, a fall, or even a broken bone, would resolve itself to pretty much the condition it was in before. See, his leg has healed normally, and he's pretty much able to walk again. But for people with FOP, an injury, even a relatively minor fall like the one that she took, can lead to the growth of bone outside of the skeleton."

"How do we stop it? Is there a surgery?" the father asked, still staring at the x-ray in shock.

"Surgery makes it worse," Alice told him sadly. "It causes the body to try and repair it with even more bone. There's no cure. Squalamine studies have shown promise, but nothing has been approved to treat it. Some people live well into their 70s with the condition. You just have to be really careful. The flare-ups can't be stopped, but being careful not to get hurt can help slow the progression."

"That's got to be awful," Chase told her later, "going through life knowing you're slowly going to turn to bone. You can't do anything even remotely dangerous."

"The poor girl is probably going to be really sheltered from now on," Alice agreed, thinking of all of the times she had almost broken bones as a child. "Are you planning on going surfing during the conference?"

"Yeah. I'll try to teach you, too, if you want."

"Okay. You've gotta be careful, though. And you need to start packing. We fly out in four days."


	24. Chapter 24

As the plane descended, Chase shook Alice's shoulder. "Babe, wake up. We're landing in Hawaii."

"Already?" she yawned, stretching and looking at her watch. She turned around, waking up Taub and Park, who had fallen asleep in their seats. Foreman and House sat in the row next to them.

"We get to leave first, right?" she heard House ask. "After all, the cripple needs to get a head start." Foreman was shaking his head, wondering how he would put up with him in close quarters for the duration of the conference.

In the hotel restaurant that night, Foreman outlined the premise of the conference. "We get to pick a morning lecture and an afternoon panel. There's a group lecture after the panels that we're all attending. The next day is ours to explore the island."

"The intensivism lecture looks interesting," Park said, looking at the brochure Foreman had passed around.

"I think the infectious diseases panel would benefit all of us," Chase offered, pointing to one of the items on the schedule. "They have a few researchers and someone from the CDC scheduled to speak."

"The great thing is we can all pick different lectures," Foreman told them. "As long as you show your ID at the door, you'll be allowed in. So we can pick a lecture, meet up for lunch, and then pick a panel and meet up again for the last lecture and dinner. We can meet up for breakfast too, if you want."

Alice and Chase were up early the next morning, tripping down to breakfast in their pajamas. Most of the others trickled in with them, with the exception of House, who was already dozing in the breakfast room when they arrived. "Park, uh, what's with the hair?" Alice asked, walking over to where she stood in front of the waffle maker. Park looked like she had stuck her finger in an electric socket.

"I woke up like this. I'm surprised you and Chase even bothered to put clothes on for breakfast, with the way you two have been looking at each other since we got on that plane."

"Uh, we-" Alice was interrupted by a blaring alarm. "I think your waffle is done."

During breakfast, a rather large group of young women walked into the room, chatting and laughing as they made their breakfast. "There's also a beach volleyball tournament here, I think," Foreman said, explaining their presence to the team.

"Sweet," House nodded, standing. "I'll meet you guys in a conference room."

"So what did Park say that made you turn so red?" Chase asked, buttoning his shirt as Alice put her makeup on in the hotel's bathroom mirror.

"Oh, she just wondered why we bothered wearing clothes to breakfast. I think she has a crush on you."

"That's nice," he said absentmindedly. "Blue or green?"

"Hmm, blue. Almost ready?"

"Yeah." He paused, giving her a kiss. "That was nice, though."

"Mm, yeah, but we have to go. We're expected in intensivism in ten minutes."

"Aww."

"Come on." She grabbed her bag from a chair. "It's on level two. I want good seats."

Three meeting rooms and a day later, the team was left to explore Hawaii. There was a morning tour of Pearl Harbor, which Alice and Park were fascinated by. In the afternoon, they all hit the beach.

Of the group, Foreman showed the most promise at surfing. He and Chase were out doing tricks in no time. Alice had worse luck. After about the twentieth time falling down, Chase looked at her and went, "Oh my God, are you wearing sunscreen?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You're turning almost as red as your hair. You should probably get out of the sun, honey." He swam with her back to the shore, telling Taub that it was his turn to learn how to surf.

"Hey, be careful," Alice instructed. Chase saluted her before heading back to the water with his board, Taub in tow. She washed off before sitting in a lawn chair in the shade of an umbrella that Park had set up. "Anything good?" Alice asked, nodding towards the magazine Park was reading.

"There's a great article in here on gene therapy. You weren't at the lecture, were you?"

"No, Chase and I went to the intensivist one."

"Hey, look, Taub's up!" Park pointed to where Taub was standing unsteadily on a surfboard, Chase cheering him on. "Oh no." Taub wiped out dramatically in seconds.

"Wait, he's getting back up. Oh, ouch."

"Excuse me, ladies. Is this seat taken?" A tan young man walked over with a drink in his hand, nodding towards the empty chair next to Park.

"No, go ahead," Alice said, watching Chase help Taub back onto the board.

"Alice, this is Derek," Park told her, the man nodding. "He's from New York Mercy."

"Dr. Alice Chase. I'm in the Diagnostics Department with Park." She shook his hand, taking her seat in the shade once they had been introduced.

"Chi couldn't stop talking about your department. Sounds like you guys handle a lot of tough cases." Derek moved into the sun, taking a sip of his drink.

"That we do. We just had a FOP disorder case before we flew out. Oh, look at Taub go! I think he's got it. Or... Maybe not." Taub wiped out spectacularly again. Alice turned to explain. "The guy who just fell, Chris Taub, is on our team too, along with my husband Robert, who's out there trying to teach him how to surf."

That evening, the team sat around a table on the patio of the hotel's restaurant. Still all clad in their swimsuits, they were toasting the great time they'd had in Hawaii. Alice went to grab more drinks, Park heading off to Derek's table. A few minutes later, one of the volleyball players sauntered over. "Hi," she smiled at Chase. Taub snickered as she turned and nodded. "My friend Sarah over there," she gestured to a table of giggling girls, "thinks you look like a celebrity."

"Thanks, I guess."

"She dared me to come over and say hi. So, hi."

"Hi."

Alice watched the scene from the bar, slightly amused.

"I just think you're pretty hot. I'm Melanie, by the way. We saw you out on your board today. Damn." She giggled, Taub and Foreman elbowing each other. "So, did you fly out here alone?"

"I'm married."

"But I asked a different question." She leaned onto the table.

"I flew out with my team. Including my wife," Chase told her roughly.

Melanie winked, asking, "Is she around here?"

"I'm not cheating on my wife. If you want attention, ask Taub. But I'm not cheating on my wife."

"It's not cheating till you get caught," Melanie smiled with a bubbly laugh, her fake tan glimmering.

"Sorry that took so long," Alice said, coming back with a tray of drinks in hand. She handed them out before taking a seat directly on Chase's lap. Melanie's face made a few of the others laugh. She looked Alice up and down judgmentally. Alice smiled, putting an arm around her husband's neck. "Dr. Alice Chase. PhD in forensic anthropology and psychology, Georgetown. Currently on a differential diagnostics team at Princeton Plainsboro. Nice to meet you."

Melanie smiled sweetly. "Melanie Normans, associates of cosmetology, Hawaii. Competitive beach volleyball since high school. And might I say, you could do with a better tan if you're going surfing."

"I prefer to stay my natural shade of paper-pale," Alice asserted. "The whole not-getting-cancer thing is important to me."

"Well," Melanie sneered, "have fun. See you around, Mr. Surfer." She slowly walked back to the group of girls, who had been watching and whispering amongst themselves.

Alice started laughing as soon as she was out of earshot. "What was that about?"

"She's trying to steal your spot, there," Taub laughed, nodding at Alice, who was still on Chase's lap.

"Yeah, but I told her my wife is three times as hot. Plus you actually have more than two brain cells to rub together," Chase smiled. Alice went to move back to her spot, but he wrapped his arms around her. "You don't have to move, babe. Stay here, show the volleyball team who's boss."

"For the volleyball team, sure," she laughed.


	25. Chapter 25

Alice slept with her head on Chase's shoulder until she was shaken awake. "Honey, they've got a sick man up front. They need a doctor."

"Send someone else. Wake Taub and Park up. Make them do it. I'm on vacation."

"They don't know what's wrong with him." Park leaned over their seats to speak. "He's got a fever and chills, and a headache. It could be nothing, or," she lowered her voice so she couldn't be overheard, "the whole plane could be in danger."

They stood, heading for where House, Taub, and Foreman were taking up seats by a man wrapped in blankets. One of them had taped a piece of paper with his symptoms written on it to the wall. "His eyes are turning red. Could be a hemorrhage," Foreman offered.

"In both eyes? Seems like a big assumption," Taub rejected. "How long were you in Hawaii?"

"A week, for my sister's wedding and then to go snorkeling and diving," the man said, shivering. He turned to the new arrivals, introducing himself. "I'm Steve, by the- oh God, my stomach."

"Are you going to vomit?" Park asked, grabbing a trash can as a stewardess passed by, giving them a concerning look.

"No, no, it feels like I was punched in the gut by an entire pro football team."

House added, 'abdominal pain' to the list. "Well? What's up next? Hopefully something we can test for on the plane."

"Abdominal aneurysm," Park offered.

"No blood in stool samples," Taub countered. "What about diverticulitis?"

"That's uncommon in people under 40. How old are you?" Alice asked.

"27."

"That's also something that usually involves blood in stool samples," Chase added. "Gastroenteritis can present without it, though."

"He's not vomiting though," Foreman shook his head.

"Do you guys not have a clue?" Steve worried, rubbing his shoulder.

"They're DDXing," House told him.

Alice explained further, taking a seat across the aisle from him. "We're all in differential diagnostics. We bat around theories until we find one that fits and test for it. If the test is negative, we revise our theory and keep testing until we hit one that's right. Right now we aren't sure, but as you can see, we're narrowing it down fast."

"Excuse me, do you think he could be contagious?" A stewardess had walked over, looking concerned. She was the one who passed by as Steve's abdominal pain was developing, House noted.

"We're not sure," Park replied. "We're still narrowing it down." She turned back to the group, proposing, "Thalassemia. Are you tired a lot? Little appetite?"

"Look how round he is, that can't be it," House objected. "Surfer boy, you're up."

"It could be a stomach or intestinal abscess," Chase offered.

"Again, weight loss is usually a symptom of a digestive system abscess."

"Usually. Mono," Taub said, shaking his head.

Foreman put on a pair of gloves, having the man lie down before checking his stomach. "Spleen isn't enlarged. For a case to be this bad, it would have to be."

"Cryptococcus." Alice sat cross-legged on the seat across from where Steve was stretched out. "Were you hiking while you were in Hawaii?"

"Yeah. I went on a couple of trails up and down the volcanoes."

"Is your vision blurrier than normal?"

"No."

"You keep rubbing your shoulder. Does it itch?" Alice asked.

"No, the muscle aches."

Park added it to the growing symptom list. House, meanwhile, leaned against the wall. "Red and black, find his bag." Alice and Foreman shared a look, rolling their eyes before going to find Steve's carry-on luggage. They deconstructed it down to the bag itself, finding nothing suspicious.

"He's got no drugs in here," Foreman finally reported.

"Why would you think I'm a druggie?" Steve asked from his seat. "I haven't touched anything worse than a beer since my freshman year of college."

"Because you look like you're coming down from a bad trip," House explained. "But you're not paranoid or anything."

Taub had a different explanation. "We normally search through our patient's' stuff to see what they're hiding."

"That's comforting," Steve quipped, shivering.

"Did you eat anything outside of your normal diet?" Park asked.

"What did you say?"

"Did you eat anything out of the ordinary while you were on vacation?"

"I can't hear you. I... I can't hear anything. I can't hear anything!" Other passengers, who had been a bit curious before, we're now trying to look around the privacy curtain that a stewardess had set up.

Alice put a finger to her lips, showing that he was being too loud. She took a dry erase board down from the wall, erasing where the stewardesses had written who was on snack cart duty every hour. 'Hearing loss is a new symptom,' she wrote, showing it to him as House wrote the new symptom on the list with the others. 'We're going to keep discussing ideas,' Alice added.

"Whatever it is, it's attacking two systems now," Taub said. "We've got to get it before it moves to the brain, if it hasn't already. Hearing loss could be a brain thing or an ear thing."

"He said he was in the forest hiking, right?" Foreman asked.

'Forest hiking?' Alice wrote.

Steve nodded, not wanting to talk for fear of unintentionally being too loud.

"Did he pick anything up or touch the ground?"

'Picked anything up? Touched the ground?' Alice wrote, handing him the board when he indicated that he had an answer that required more than a nod.

'Tripped on tree root & fell into puddle' was his answer.

"Were there a lot of animals around?"

'Lots of animals around?' Alice scrawled. He nodded.

"Leptospirosis," Foreman told them. "It's in contaminated soil or water when animals are around. He came into contact with both. In addition, most U.S. cases come from Hawaii. If he cut himself in the fall, he could have gotten the bacteria into the wound. We treat with anything penicillin-based."

'Right back w/treatment' Alice wrote before standing up. She went to address the entire plane. "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen." She paused, waiting for people to look up from their books and take off their headphones. "As I'm sure you've found out, there's someone on this plane who is pretty sick. I'm a doctor, and I have a qualified team that's just made a diagnosis. It's very possible that this man will not survive the flight back to Trenton if you don't help me. I need anyone with a penicillin-based drug to give me one or two pills. That's it. Penicillin, amoxicillin, anything like that. If you could please hold them up. Don't be shy, you're saving a man's life."

She walked around the plane, collecting pills that people held up. On her way back to the curtained-off area, Alice stopped to grab a paper cup from a snack cart. She took a seat and began twisting the pills open, dumping the insides into the cup. "I'd say we have about twenty-five, maybe thirty grams of this."

"We can make it last until we hit the ground, then get him to the hospital right away," House said, watching Alice write, 'This will help. You'll be OK but need to go to hosp. Hearing should return, tho."

Sure enough, the man's hearing returned soon after the first dose of penicillin. "Lucky for you, you have the mild strain of leptospirosis. The other one is a lot worse," Foreman told him, handing him the next dose. "You'll need to be hospitalized for a day or two, but you should be fine."


	26. Chapter 26

Chase had been ridiculously busy. The second their plane had touched down, phone calls were already coming in from the hospital. Three people had been admitted with unexplainable symptoms, and the nurses were going crazy trying to keep them alive for House and his team. They also had to get Steve through admissions and checked in for continued monitoring. They were quickly sorted out, and would be able to go home in a few days. But that wasn't figured out until Chase and the rest of the team had run a battery of tests.

The next few weeks had passed in a blur. Chase and Alice rarely got to spend more than one or two full nights at home, either coming back late or being woken up by incessant calls and pages and told to get to the hospital. A flu outbreak had hit the area, and many people came in with underlying conditions that had been set off by the virus. The clinic was always crowded, and any doctor that wasn't already stretched to the limit was on clinic duty.

Chase was sitting at a table in the cafeteria going over the results of a blood panel when Alice sat down across from him, dropping into the seat with her third cup of coffee of the day. "Did you get the full tox screen in yet?"

"Taub's working on it," she said, sweeping the notion aside. "Babe, there's something I need to tell you."

"What's wrong?" He put down the folder, giving her his undivided attention. "Are you okay?"

She took a deep breath before asking, "Do you remember that night in Hawaii?"

"After the party?" Alice nodded in silence. "Yeah. Why?"

"I'm pregnant. I think it was that night in Hawaii."

He got up to give her a hug. "That is amazing news. How long have you known?"

"A couple of days. But we haven't been able to talk. Neither of us has been home, or in any fit state."

"Honey, this is wonderful."

"Chase, I... What if..."

"If anything happens, I'll be right there with you," he promised.

"Tox screen was clean," Taub announced, walking over to where they sat. Park trailed him. "What's going on?"

"I'm having lunch with my wife," Chase said, gesturing with his sandwich. "And looking over blood panel results."

"Really? Cuz you look kind of freaked," Park noted. "And your blood panel folder is closed."

"Ooooh, something's up," Taub noted, pulling a chair over from an empty table. Park shrugged, bringing over another chair. "What's going on?"

"Do you want to tell them?" Chase asked, looking at his wife. "Or should I?"

"They'll find out soon enough anyway."

"Well, I just got some really good news," Chase told them.

Alice nodded. "I'm pregnant."

"Congratulations," Park smiled.

"Wow," Taub agreed, "good for you guys. That's great." His pager beeped, and he stood up, saying, "I've got a patient who's bleeding from his ear. Park, we should leave them to their lunch. We'll see you guys later."

Alice watched them run to catch the elevator before turning back to Chase. "I can't believe it. I've been in shock all week. I... We were stupid to... We should have... Oh, Chase, I can't believe this is happening."

"Neither can I," he admitted. "You're right, we should have been more careful, but I didn't think of it at the time."

"Well, I wasn't thinking straight either."

"Damn that bikini of yours," he laughed.

"And those muscles and that accent of yours," Alice smiled. "I can't believe this. After Thirteen and the building collapse and everything... Wow."

"Remy. Or Hadley. We should name it after her," Chase proposed. "In her honor. She'd have been a great aunt."

"That's a good idea. I don't think 'Thirteen' would fly though," Alice laughed.


	27. Chapter 27

Eight months later, Alice was lying on the sofa in House's office, reading a file. She was no longer allowed to do a lot of work, but showed up anyway to help in the lab and participate in every DDX. While the rest of the team would rush into the patient's room, she was forced to watch from the nurses' station, listening to chatter about what was going on. "You look like you ate a balloon," House commented from his desk, tapping away at the computer. Alice was pretty sure he was playing internet poker, not actually working.

"Thanks. I find the plastic is great for my figure," she joked, sitting up slowly to toss him the file. "I think your lady here smokes crack. I'd check out her address. The tox screen came back positive. Oh, and for amphetamines, too."

"The boys found a few pipes when they searched her place. She said they were her boyfriend's."

"Everybody lies. And even if she's telling the truth, second-hand exposure would have had an… an- ouch. Oh my God. Okay, call Dr. Xian and get my husband, or I'm delivering in your office."

Three hours later, Chase sat in his wife's room, his coat draped over the back of his chair. He ran a hand through Alice's hair, watching her sleep as he rocked his son. There had been a lot of swearing and a lot of Alice clenching his hand to the point that Chase thought he would have a few broken bones, but everything had gone well.

Hadley Patrick Chase had his father's eyes, much to the delight of the nurses that had come by to visit. Taub, Park, Wilson, Foreman, and even House had stopped by to say hello and hold the baby. Some of them had brought flowers. Wilson had set a large stuffed panda on the table in the room.

"Chase?" Alice asked with a yawn. She was still paler than usual, but seemed to be regaining her strength fairly quickly.

"Hmm?"

"Is he asleep?"

"Yeah. For now. How do you feel, honey?"

"Tired. Really tired. That hurt like hell."

"You're incredibly brave," Chase smiled, carefully leaning over to kiss her. "Even though I thought you were going to break my hand."

"Yeah, well... Hey, who's the panda from?" Alice raised her bed so she could sit up properly.

"Wilson. He came by while you were asleep."

"Aww, that's nice. He-" She was interrupted by the door to her room sliding open, Taub and Park tiptoeing in. "What-?"

"Sorry," Park whispered, pointing behind her. "It's his fault."

House was following them, poking at their backs with his cane. He set up his whiteboard on the table, moving the panda aside with the cane. "Fifteen-year-old girl falls in the middle of a soccer game, uncon-"

"Get out of here," Chase hissed.

"Oh, sorry." House began to whisper, "No trauma that would have made her fall, and no history of seizures."

"My wife just had a baby," he objected.

"Like four hours ago. Boring. This is new."

"We need to be together. As a family."

"For the record, I told them we could do this in the conference room without you two," Taub stated.

"Sssh," House warned. "She's now gone blind in one eye, and the scans have all ruled out a tumor."

"Do I have to call security?"

"Baby's got to do his first DDX sometime, doesn't he?" House asked, writing 'blindness in left eye' on the board.

"Get the hell-" Alice put a hand on his arm and Chase stopped.

"Let him stay," she sighed, looking wearily back at House. "He's only going to keep annoying us, and as long as he's quiet, he's fine."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah."

"Baby kangaroo, any ideas?" House asked. Hadley remained asleep. "How about the other Chases?"

"Vasovagal syncope," Chase proposed, shaking his head.

"That won't explain the blindness unless there's another condition. And you know what House thinks of too many conditions presenting at once," Alice contested. "Optic neuritis, pain causes the fainting."


	28. Chapter 28

"Patient just got admitted," Alice heard, rushing into the the conference room after dropping Hadley off at daycare. It would be so much easier when he started kindergarten, but that was still a year away. At four, he could be a handful. "She's fourteen and her blood sugar dropped so low that she fainted. ER nurse found a bunch of weird bruises, but they don't look like they could have been the result of abuse," Park read from a file. "Fatigue and muscle cramps too."

"Sounds like it could be a heart problem," Taub proposed. "We need to do an EKG."

"Don't bother," House told them, limping into the room. "She's dying of cancer."

"None of this points to cancer," Taub objected.

House took the file from Park, reading, "Reported conditions: stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma."

"Then if she is going to die, we should at least try to figure out what's wrong on top of the cancer to give her the longest life possible."

Alice walked over to the whiteboard. "We can rule out fatigue as coming from the cancer and chemo. Bruising may be from that too." She crossed out 'fatigue' and put a question mark next to 'bruising'. "That leaves us with low blood sugar, muscle cramps, and possibly fainting. We don't know for sure if the low blood sugar caused the faint or not."

"Let's get an EKG then," Park said. "Taub's right. It's the best place to start."

"Taub and Park, wire her up. Chases, chase down her address, do a home search."

Alice watched the road as Chase picked the lock on the front door. It popped open quickly, and he ushered her inside. "Wait." Alice held out her arm, stopping him from walking beyond a few steps into the house. "They have an alarm."

"We've got to go then."

"I've got this." Removing her glasses, Alice stared at the glowing panel of buttons, thinking quickly.

"You've got a minute, max." She continued staring, pointing at different numbers. "There's a countdown. Thirty seconds. Twenty. Babe, ten seconds."

Alice punched in a string of numbers and the system shut off. "See? I've got this."

"How the hell did you manage that?"

"It's easy." She pointed to the buttons. "The 9 is the most worn, which means it's probably first. Then the 1, then 7, and 6. 9176. But people are more likely to use birthdays as passwords, since the association makes them easier to remember. 1976."

"I'm officially married to a genius. Or a criminal. I hope it's the first. I'll start with the living room, if you want to take the office."

Alice ended up going upstairs, Chase heading for the basement. He had been stepping over piles of old car magazines when his phone rang, Alice calling him from upstairs. "What's up? Find anything?" He held the phone to his ear with a shoulder, trying to head back towards the stairs.

"Yeah. You should see this." He found Alice in the girl's bedroom, sitting at a desk. "I took the liberty of hacking into her laptop. She's been posting a lot of stuff about dieting lately. Think she could be anorexic?"

Chase read over her shoulder. "Yeah, possibly. Scroll down."

"Hey, no looking down my shirt while we're supposed to be gathering evidence." She closed the laptop, dialing Park.

"Her blood pressure's dropping," Park answered.

"Hello to you to. She's going anemic, right?"

"Yes. How'd you know?"

Alice stood up, looking out of the window. "Found some stuff. We think she could be anorexic. She needs blood transfusions and an IV line for nutrients. Pump her full of them."

She hung up, turning back to Chase. "What's that?"

"What?"

"There. The window box. They normally have flowers in them this time of year. All the other ones around the house seem to be doing fine. These are all dead." Chase opened the window, looking at the box. "Someone's been digging in here. A lot of the dirt is gone."

"There wasn't any on the ground when we walked around, was there?"

"No. It couldn't've fallen down and not landed on the walkway. We would have noticed it. Is this chalk?" He held up a piece of rock.

Alice looked at it and nodded. "Bag it as evidence. Then help me search the rest of the room to see what else is going on. She has to be using it for something."

Chase went through the closet, finding nothing he thought was significant. Alice checked every drawer in the desk, and was looking under the bed when she pulled something out. "Tell me you ate paper as a teenager."

"Uh, no."

"Wood?"

"I'm not a beaver."

"Cotton?"

"No. The most appetizing thing about that list was watching you bend over."

Alice stood up, holding out a cardboard box filled with pieces of paper, wood chips, and cotton balls. "They've all been destroyed like she's been eating them. I bet the dental records will match some of these bite marks."

"I'll call Taub. If she's got Pica and has eaten something dangerous, she'll need her stomach pumped." Chase went downstairs, dialing the hospital as Alice sealed the box in a plastic bag.

"You know, Cameron and I used to sleep with each other on searches like that," Chase said casually as he was driving back to the hospital.

"Isn't that a bit dangerous? Like having sex in crack dens or contaminated areas? Even a relatively clean place, for that matter. You have no idea what could be there."

They turned left as he answered, "Yeah, but that was part of the fun of it."

"So you want to volunteer for the next house search? Take the next left, and watch that truck coming up on the right."

"You're not saying no?"

"Not only am I saying no, I'm also saying that's a completely idiotic idea. If you want somewhere risky, try the sleep lab."

"So, the sleep lab, then?"

Alice's phone went off. "What's up? Great. Wait, what? She shouldn't be. She's on iron and extra nutrients, right? You got pictures of the digestive tract to check for punctures? And she's still declining? We'll check all this stuff for toxins as soon as we get there. Yeah. We're pulling into the parking lot now." She hung up with a sigh. "That was Park. Patient's still doing pretty badly. I don't know how long we've got."

"What do you mean, she's dying?" The parents were outside of the room, arguing with Taub and Park when the Chases arrived after dropping the evidence off in the lab for analysis.

"What's going on?"

"She went into anaphylactic shock while you guys were out," Taub told them. "We've got her in a clean room to keep her stable. But I think we're going to need a full-body scan, since she still went into shock in the room. Whatever is causing the reaction has to be on her, or something she ate, since we can confirm Pica."

"She's going to die for sure if they don't consent," Park said bluntly.

"Mr. and Mrs. Watkins, can I talk to you?" Alice asked. "Privately?" They nodded, the other doctors walking away. Alice turned back to the parents, who looked like they hadn't slept in days. "I lost a child five, nearly six years ago. Not a day goes by that I don't wonder if... if I had done something differently, would I have another child? My son is four now, and I'm always trying to keep him from getting sick or getting hurt. You know you can help your daughter. Why not?"

"She's stable in that clean room. If they move her..." Mrs. Watkins gulped. "She's my baby. My only one, my little girl..."

"She's stable for now. But if she goes into anaphylactic shock again, she could die, very easily," Alice told them. "You have a chance to at least give her the longest life possible."

"Okay," Mrs. Watkins nodded. "Do the scan."

"She had a penny embedded in her small intestine," Taub told the parents a few hours later. "She has a metal allergy. Prolonged exposure gave her the reaction. We've removed it, but she'll have to avoid exposure to heavy metals."

"Thank you so much," Mrs. Watkins managed before she ran into her daughter's room.


	29. Chapter 29

"My wife keeps getting sicker." Alice had walked into clinic room three early one morning to find a man and his wife sitting there, already waiting.

"I woke up a few days ago, and everything hurt. Ted thought it was from a rafting trip last week, but it wouldn't hit so suddenly, would it?" The woman brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "I was freezing that afternoon, even though it was pretty hot out. I've been running a fever too."

"Have you traveled anywhere recently?" Alice made some notes in the chart.

"No, just our normal routine around the city. We went rafting last week with some friends in New York," Ted told her. "None of them got sick, though, and I'm okay. I was with her the entire time."

"It's okay, I think you've just got the flu. It's been going around lately. Have you-"

"Doctor? My heart... It's beating so fast..." The woman clutched her chest in astonishment.

Alice put on her stethoscope and confirmed that the woman's heartbeat was way too quick for someone who had been sitting in a waiting room. "I'm admitting you."

"Myra Doss, 28. Body ache, chills, fever, and heart palpitations," Alice told the team, writing the symptoms on the whiteboard. "No recent travel, except a rafting trip to New York. No one else who went with got sick."

"Pneumonia," Park proposed.

"Gastroenteritis," Taub offered.

"Coxsackie," Chase guessed. "It isn't likely, but it's possible."

"Get clear images of the lungs and two of you go on a home search. Park and ginger Chase, go check the house. Taub and other Chase, deal with the patient." House made his ruling from the coffee machine, where he was trying to make Ramen noodles in the coffee pot.

"Why do you have so much stuff in your car?" Alice asked, moving a cardboard box out of the passenger seat of Park's car. "What is all of this?"

"I finally got my own apartment," Park told her, turning her head to back out of the parking space. "I'm sick of living with my parents. This is the last of my stuff. As of tonight, I'll be fully moved out."

"Congratulations! That's great. If you want to come over for dinner sometime, we'd love to have you."

"Why?"

"Well, I'm sure you're good company. And my first apartment resulted in a lot of microwaved meals. I'm sure having real dinner would be a nice change."

"One day when we aren't stuck at work all night," Park promised. "Well, the house looks normal from the outside."

Alice jimmied the lock open before any of the neighbors noticed that they didn't have a key. She and Park carefully stepped inside, making sure there wasn't an alarm system. "I'll take upstairs," Alice offered, pulling a pair of gloves out of her pocket and heading for the landing. Park nodded, walking into the kitchen and out of view.

The first few rooms were boring, but Alice found something interesting in a closet. A lot of camping gear had been stored there, alongside what looked like the remnants of a chemistry set. She pulled a few of the stranger looking powders and liquids out, setting them in evidence bags. Maybe something would be helpful. Her phone went off as she was packing up what she had found. "What's up? You scared me half to death."

"The lungs are healthy, but her knees are swelling massively, and there are swellings behind her eyes," Taub reported. "Have you two found anything?"

"I've got some sort of chemistry set that I've bagged up. It could be a poison, or it could be the remnants of a meth lab. Park's nearly done sweeping the first floor. Did you test for syphilis?"

"I'll get a blood draw running. The STD panel hasn't come back yet. But I think she's almost out of time, if it's neurosyphilis."

"Get her on penicillin while you wait for the tests. It could buy her some time. Park and I'll be there soon."

When they got back to the hospital, Chase reported that, "She's getting better, but the initial tests are coming back negative for syphilis. Whatever she has, it's getting better on penicillin."

"I'll run a couple of tests on the stuff we picked up from the house," Alice said, looking into the patient's room, where Mr. Doss was pacing. A monitor began to beep, Chase bolting into the room.

"She's crashing. I need a cart in here! Call a code!"

"Myra! Honey-"

"Sir, we need you to go outside."

"Pull the shades."

"Charging... Clear! Damn."

"Call-"

"Charging... Clear!"

"I-"

The excitement was over quickly. Chase turned to his wife, shaking his head as the heart monitor continued to flatline. Alice glanced down at her watch. "Time of death, 5:47 PM."

"Whatever infection it was, penicillin couldn't beat it out," Chase shook his head. He had collapsed into a chair in the diagnostics room, where Alice brought him a cup of coffee.

"It wasn't syphilis," Park concluded, flipping through the test results. "All of the poisons we tested for weren't present, either."

"What the hell happened, then? She was getting better on penicillin," Taub wondered.

House limped into the room, carrying a test tube, which had something tiny in it. "Deer tick. Usually harmless to us, because they're on deer, but they can carry Lyme disease. Added to a tick allergy, the only odd thing is how she didn't die earlier."

"It wasn't our fault, we just missed something," Taub said, discussing the case in the lab. They had been working for hours, trying to test environmental factors on their newest patient's blood. "Windex is out."

"Good morning, everyone," Alice grimaced, watching the clock strike midnight as she crossed out pine sap. She glanced over to where Chase was sleeping on a cot they had rolled it. It would be Park's turn for a nap soon, and Chase would be up working, testing and retesting dozens of samples.

Park almost dropped a vial, catching it before checking her watch and confirming, "He's got another ten minutes, right?"

"Yeah."

"Are you doing ragweed pollen, or am I?" Taub asked with a yawn.

"I think-" Park was interrupted by Chase, who bolted up out of bed with a gasp. "What the hell, dude?"

He looked around, confirming that he was in the lab. "Sorry. Nightmare. God... I'll be right back." He shook his head, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he walked out of the room.

"It's always the building collapse," Alice explained, setting a sample down. "He wakes up in the middle of the night at least a few times a month, and it's always the building collapse. He dreams about it a lot. And it doesn't help that House still teases him about it. I'll be right back."

She went after her husband, who was heading back to the lab after washing his face in the closest bathroom sink. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He stopped to give her a kiss. "Sorry about the breath. You're heading out now?"

"Yep. I've got to get home, catch a few hours of sleep, and then drop Hadley off at school. I'll be back here at 8:30."

"Okay." Chase gave her a parting kiss before heading back to the lab.

Alice stopped by the house again after dropping Hadley off at school, thinking she would grab Chase some new clothes. There was a basket on the doorstep, filled with cookies. The note read, 'Thank you for all you did for Myra. Thank you for trying. - Ted Doss'.

"That's nice," she smiled, carrying the basket into the house and setting it on the kitchen counter. She grabbed a cookie, munching as she drove back to the hospital. "Breakfast of champions," she muttered.

"Al, you okay?" Park asked, seeing her walk in.

"I'm so tired I can barely move my face," she yawned. "Have you guys found anything?"

"We're getting close. It's not any of the fruits or vegetables in the kitchen, none of the plants around the house, none of the fabrics, and probably none of the cleaning solutions," Park listed. "You're sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I... I can't move my left arm." She looked down in a panic, almost as if verifying that it was still there.

Taub pulled a chair over, letting her sit down before taking her pulse. "It's not too high."

"Chris, I," she grabbed his arm, barely moving her mouth. "I can't breathe."

"Park, get a nurse and page Chase," Taub instructed, Park heading for the door. "Shit. And a syringe of diazepam!"

"We've got her stabilized," Park told House and Chase, who arrived in a few minutes. "She had a seizure and couldn't breathe. Her muscles are still freezing up, though, and her breathing keeps-"

"Did any of you eat the same things as she did?" House interrupted. "Did anyone give you anything this morning?"

"She was at home since midnight," Chase told him, craning his neck to see into the room, where Taub and a nurse were trying to stabilize his wife again.

"She said someone left a basket of cookies on your porch. It was a gift," Park spoke up.

"From who?"

"Mr. Doss."

"He thinks we murdered his wife," House realized with a smile. "So he's poisoning people. Cool.."

"They're flushing her stomach with charcoal, but it won't-" Park stopped talking when Chase went into his wife's room.

"Alice got lucky. The strychnine she ate wasn't enough to kill her," Wilson explained to Chase an hour later. They were sitting outside of an ICU room, where nurses were still crowding around Alice. "They put her into a medically induced coma while they tried to get all of the poison out, but now she's not waking up."


	30. Chapter 30

Chase sat next to his wife, watching her breathe. It had been a week and a half, and she showed no sign of coming out of the coma. "Hey," Park said, knocking lightly on the door. "Someone's here." She led Hadley in, saying, "His school stuff is still in my car. I'll come back in a little while and take him for dinner in the cafeteria, then drop him off with Popo."

She headed out into the hall, Hadley walking over and sitting on his dad's lap. "Did you have a good day at school, bud?" Chase asked tiredly.

Hadley swung his feet, unconsciously kicking Chase in the shins. "Yeah. How long is Mommy going to sleep?"

"I don't know, buddy. Her body has to heal before she can wake up. She was really sick."

"My teacher says it's okay if you don't come to open house," Hadley said, "since Mommy's in the hospital."

"Okay. Maybe Uncle Chris can go pick up the papers for me," Chase said absentmindedly.

"Ashlee said her Mommy said Mommy's like Sleeping Beauty," Hadley mused.

"She's right. Just, I can't wake her up," Chase told him with a sad smile. When Park came to take Hadley for dinner, Chase stayed behind, taking out a book. He looked at his wife, telling her, "They say people in comas can recognize the voices of the people they love, and that talking helps. So... Well, I figured I'd read you something."

House limped into the room, listening to Chase read to Alice. "Sylvia Plath is a poor choice for a woman in a coma."

She loves The Bell Jar. She was a psych major at first." Chase looked up with the face of a man thirty years older. "She still reads all the psych and crime books she can."

"Hmm. What are you going to tell your kid if she's still knocked out for Valentine's Day?" House leaned against the wall.

"That she's still knocked out. He's old enough to understand most of it." Chase set the book down, turning to face him. "They're letting her stay as long as she needs to. So we won't be going on vacation anytime soon, but we're trying to go on like normal."

"And if she doesn't come out of it?"

"Why do you care so much, House?"

House tossed his cane between his hands, saying, "One of my employees is currently taking up a bed, and another one is pretty much out of commission until his wife wakes up. So I should be a bit concerned. Taub and Park are the only ones still managing this place. One of them takes a sick day, and we'll be setting trash cans on fire."

"You already do that."

House shrugged, limping away as Foreman's voice drifted over, yelling about a garbage can fire and how the janitor was needed in the clinic. Chase picked the book back up, taking his wife's hand. "'I saw my life branching out before me...' Honey?" He could've sworn that she had coughed. "Alice?"

She tried to move her arm, Chase uncovering her eyes. "Alice? House! Taub! Park! Someone!"

They both ran into the room, followed by a group of nurses who pushed him aside and got to work checking tubes and IV lines. Cuddy clicked down the hall as fast as her heels would let her, a few residents following close behind. One of the nurses made him stand outside. Eventually, Chase gave up trying to see over the group's heads and began pacing the hall. "She's responding well." He got snatches of information whenever someone left the room.

"She's able to focus on objects. Still has object permanence." Chase nodded, walking back.

"She's stable. We've got her resting now. She's been able to speak and is doing really well," Cuddy told him when she finally emerged. "You can go back in. I'm clearing everyone out now."

Chase rushed into the room as nurses and doctors were leaving. Taub clapped him on the shoulder, Park giving an encouraging nod. "It's looking up," Park smiled.

Alice was temporarily knocked out, since they had just put a lot of stress on her and didn't want to shock her system immediately. Chase pulled up the chair that had been flung aside by one of the residents and sat down. He watched his wife breathe on her own, sighing in relief. Things could only go up from here. He dialed Park's Popo, telling her that Alice had woken up and that he was staying overnight at the hospital.

When Alice slowly blinked her eyes open, Chase smiled, giving her a hug. "Hi."

"Hi," she said in a gravelly voice, looking around. "That's nice of a doctor to sit and wait for their patient to wake up."

"I'd never leave," Chase assured her, squeezing her hand.

"Thanks." Alice looked down at her hand and her wedding ring, asking, "Is my husband waiting?"

"Yeah, he's glad you're awake," Chase beamed.

"Can you get him? I mean, can he come in here?"

Chase's face dropped as he realized what was happening. "Alice, I'm right here."

She gave him a perplexed look. "Yes, but can you get my husband? Well, maybe I should brush my teeth first. But can I see him?"

"Alice, I'm your husband."


	31. Chapter 31

"I don't remember him," Alice shook her head, pushing her glasses up on her nose. "I..."

Taub and Park sat in her room while Chase was in the cafeteria, discussing their options with Cuddy and Wilson. "What was the last thing you remember?" Park asked, clicking her pen and opening a chart.

"I had run up to the elementary school for some reason. I went back to the house to grab something, and I ate a bit. I was driving here, and... then I don't know. Is that man really my husband?"

"Tell us about yourself," Taub encouraged. "Where do you work? What do you do?"

"I'm a doctor here. I work with you two. We take cases that no one else can figure out. My parents are dead, I've got no siblings, and I've worked here for a while. Uh, what else? I live nearby. Two-story house, decent yard space. Can you tell me if that's really my husband?" she pleaded.

Taub sighed. "Okay. But you really should talk to him. He's your husband, and you two have a kid. Hadley's five. You were dropping him off at school the day you got sick. That's why you went up to the school."

"I understand you want to tell her, but I wouldn't shove all of this information on her at once," Cuddy advised. She was sitting across from Chase in the cafeteria, sipping her fourth cup of coffee.

Wilson agreed. "Don't overload her. First let her know you're married. See how she responds. Don't let her know too much at once."

"What if she can't ever remember?"

"Then you'll just have to start over," Wilson answered.

"What about Hadley? How do I tell him that his mom doesn't remember him?"

"He can stay with Rachel and I when Alice's ready to go home. They're almost the same age. I can have the nanny drive them both to school," Cuddly offered.

"Thanks," Chase smiled briefly, glancing at his pager. "Taub says I can come back. Wish me luck."

They watched him walk away, Cuddy muttering, "That poor kid."

"So, you're my husband?" Alice looked Chase up and down as he came back into her room. "I didn't do too badly."

"Can I hug you?" Chase asked, walking over to the bed.

"Yeah." He gave her a hug, hoping that she would start to remember something. Anything. "I like your cologne. And you're pretty cute. I guess I actually did pretty well." She watched him sit down before saying, "Since I don't remember much, why don't you tell me about yourself."

"My name's Robert Chase. I'm an intensivist, and I've worked with House for a while now. I grew up a Catholic and even went to seminary before I realized I should become a doctor, not a priest. My dad left when I was a teenager, and my mum drank herself to death. My sister did too. I used to be married to a woman named Allison, but it didn't work out. I go surfing when I can, but I'm here a lot of the time."

Alice smiled, saying, "You seem pretty nice. I'm sorry, Robert. I'm really sorry I don't remember any of this."

"You usually call me Chase," he told her.

"Oh. Chase. Hmm. How did we meet?"

"Your aunt was in the hospital, and you were out of work. You figured something out really quickly, and House noticed. He hired you the same day, and had me mentor you."

"No," Alice said, knitting her eyebrows together, "I met you before that. I know I did. Where's my wallet?"

Chase handed her her purse, which had been stashed in a cabinet next to the bed. Alice sorted through it, pulling out an old Polaroid. It showed a younger man, his shirt halfway buttoned and his tie undone, smiling on a dance floor. A girl with ginger curls and a tight dress hung her arms around his neck. "We met before, at that med school party. I remember meeting you." Chase took the picture from her hand, looking it over. "You were very nice. You bought me a couple of drinks and we talked forever. And danced for a lot longer. And then you paid for my cab home, since we were both too drunk to make any smart decisions."

"Oh my god, I remember this," Chase smiled. "How could I not have remembered, in all these years? There was that French song you liked, with some really deep meaning that I never got because we were glued to each other. And you wrote your number on my arm in eyeliner, but it smeared off before I woke up the next morning."

"How can I remember that, but not remember marrying you?"


	32. Chapter 32

Alice had been allowed to go home with Chase a few days after she had come out of her coma. She had gone through a battery of tests and been given strict instructions as to what she was supposed to do. Cuddy had made sure to ask her if she was okay going home with a husband she didn't remember, and she said it was fine. "I'm pretty sure he's not going to try to kill me."

Chase was letting Hadley stay with Cuddy and Rachel until Alice had readjusted, and was careful to keep Alice away from her son's room. He hadn't told her about him yet, hoping that she would remember on her own. Alice sat at home, leafing through her wedding album. "It's bad that I don't remember any of this," she commented, taking the mug that Chase offered. "It looks nice, though."

"Yeah. You've watched our wedding video fifty times by now, right?" Chase sat down next to her, pointing out people in the photos. "What about her? Do you remember her?"

"Yeah. That's Thirteen. She died, didn't she?" Chase nodded. "And that's Cuddy next to her."

"None of this is coming back yet?" Chase asked, watching his wife study the pictures.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I remember this building collapse a few years ago... Some of us got hurt, I think." Chase sat back in silence, not wanting her to remember why he had left early for that hotel. "Wait, it was you, wasn't it? I remember... The triage area. Wilson and I were looking for you."

"Yeah. I was there for a conference. I was supposed to be speaking, but-"

Alice cut him off, adding, "I was mad before that. I'd yelled at you in the lab about something. I think it was about you sleeping around."

"Yeah, maybe."

She raised an eyebrow. "No who's got memory loss?" She laughed, leaning back on Chase. "Tell me about our honeymoon."

"We went to Cabo San Lucas for a week. It was beautiful." Chase put an arm around her saying, "We went snorkeling around the sea arch there. They wouldn't let you touch the sea lions, but they let us watch 'em for a while. I tried to teach you how to surf, but it didn't work out too well. You loved the town there, though. Tried speaking Spanish to these little old ladies who laughed at you."

"Well, I only really know how to order a few things off a menu," Alice admitted.

"They thought it was funny," Chase said, resting his chin on top of her head, "that the red-haired American girl was trying to speak Spanish like a native. But they gave us the name of this great restaurant. That was the first day we were there. When we got back... well, you're still the most beautiful woman I've ever met."

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did."

"Chase."

"Sorry. Go ahead," he laughed cordially.

"Do you love me?"

"Of course I do," he scoffed. "I loved you the day I met you." He paused before asking, "Do you love me?"

"I don't know. I don't remember."

"I think she should go through a review board before she's allowed to come back," Cuddy said, talking to House and Wilson in her office. "I don't want to take any chances."

"She hasn't forgotten her medical knowledge," House scoffed.

"We should do it just to be safe," Wilson countered. "If she makes a mi-"

"She won't make a mistake because of this. She'll make a mistake when she calls you the wrong name or forgets her anniversary. It's an amygdaloid storage problem, not a frontal lobe problem." House knocked his cane on the side of the desk. "She'll be fine."

"I'll talk to her before I let her start working," Cuddy promised. "She still doesn't remember Chase?"

"She trusts him, at least," Wilson told her. "He hasn't called yet, but she didn't object to going with him. I don't think she's forgotten it all. He said he's going to show her all of their photo albums, see if they trigger any memories."

"They'll be fine. You should have seen them when they first got together," House said. "They were all over each other. More than Chameron was."


	33. Chapter 33

"Where are you going?" Chase asked, watching his wife get ready.

"Dinner. On a date."

"Oh." She had yet to drop the subject of Wilson, having booked a dinner date with him earlier in the week. "Where are you going?"

"We're going for Italian food," she smiled in the mirror, spinning to check her dress before grabbing her purse and heading for the door. "Goodbye, Chase."

"Bye, Alice," he sighed, looking out of the window as she drove away. He sat down on the couch, shoving aside the pillows and blankets that he still slept on every night, and switched the TV. Maybe he'd give Foreman and Taub a call and go out for a drink. It hadn't bothered him that she had been spending more time with Wilson. Not at first, anyway. Wilson had helped her to remember a lot about the years that she had lost, the life she had been living before the coma. But then she began to talk about him incessantly, like a girl with a crush on a football star. When they'd arranged to have dinner together, Chase had finally started to worry. What if she never remembered why she had married him in the first place? Still, it wasn't his job to interfere. She could live her life how she wanted to, no matter how devastating it was to him.

"You look nice," Wilson smiled as Alice walked over to where he had reserved a table. "How are you doing?"

"Can I ask you something? Do I have a kid?"

Wilson took a breath before nodding. "He's five years old. His name is Hadley. Cuddy's letting him stay with her while you adjust."

"Wine, ma'am?" Their waiter had arrived with a bottle.

"Yes, please." Alice paused, not saying anything until the waiter had wandered off to another table. "James, I barely remember my husband. What the hell am I supposed to do?"

Wilson took a sip of his wine, telling her, "Live your life. If you're meant to remember him, you will. If you're meant to move on, you will. Just try and live."

She grimaced slightly, looking at the menu and wondering how you were supposed to move on with a family you don't remember having. Over dinner, Wilson finally asked, "Why me?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did you invite me? If you wanted, you could have just read your file. Cuddy would've told you anything you wanted to know, and Chase could've answered any question that Cuddy couldn't." Wilson put another forkful of pasta in his mouth, watching Alice smile.

"I trust you. And I like you, James. You're nice, and you've been much more understanding than anyone else after everything that's happened."

"Alice, before all of this, we were friends-"

She smiled again, throwing a curtain of red hair over her bare shoulder. "Of course," she laughed. "You're very nice, and I think pre-poisoning Alice would have known that. Chase is also pretty nice. But you're much more sympathetic, much more understanding..."

"Thank you, but-"

The waiter walked back over, interrupting them. "More wine, Sir?"

"Thank you." Wilson again paused until the man had meandered away. "Have you talked to your husband about this?"

"We've talked," Alice remarked in passing. "He's told me all about himself and our honeymoon and given me all of my journals. He seems nice enough, but he's a bit of an egotist, if you could call it that. He still thinks every nurse is flirting with him and every checkout girl is going to write her number on our grocery receipt. Did I really almost leave him for cheating on me?"

Wilson paused before giving a quiet, "Yeah. But he really does love you."

Alice drank the last of her wine before continuing, "He's been nice. He still insists on sleeping on the couch. Says he won't take back his side of the bed until I remember him and want him to be my husband. But... Is he really the man I married? Foreman said he would party all the time, that he married one of House's old employees, that he knew every strip club in town and every stripper by name. Taub backed him up."

"He is," Wilson sighed. "But you'd gotten him mostly under control, especially after Hadley was born. He'll come home every day and take him to soccer practice or out to a movie on weekends. You guys would go on vacation every year, and he'd been starting to teach Hadley how to surf. He's a good dad."

"You know," she gestured with her fork, trying not to fling pasta onto Wilson's shirt, "I studied all of this memory-loss-after-comas stuff for my degree. But I never thought it would be like this."

"You'll figure it out," Wilson assured her. "You'll start to remember bits and pieces of your old life."

"Hey," Alice leaned in conspiratorially, "don't look right away, but is that Foreman behind you? He's with someone who I swear is a nurse in radiology."

Wilson turned around a few seconds later, nodding. "Yeah, she's in radiology. Great with kids. Good for him."

"Chase didn't bribe him to spy on me, did he?"

"Not that I know of."

The lights were still on when Alice and Wilson drove up to the house. "Goodnight," Wilson smiled, getting out of the car to open her door. He gave her a hug, Alice kissing his cheek before heading to the door.

Chase rolled over on the couch, hearing the door unlock. "How was your date?"

"Oh, fine." Alice took off her heels, dropping her purse on the kitchen counter. "We saw Foreman and this girl from radiology. Lisa? Linda? Something like that. How was your evening?"

"Okay. I took Hadley and Rachel out for ice cream and gave Cuddy some peace and quiet. Gave Taub a call, made plans to go bowling with some of the others next week. Not much else."

"That's nice. Well... goodnight, Chase."

"Goodnight, Alice." He watched her walk upstairs, wondering if he could ever win her over again.

A few evenings later, Alice walked into the house, flicking the porch lights off as Wilson drove away. They had arranged to go on another date in a few days, and all had gone well. House had only paged once.

Chase sat on the couch, watching the news. A bottle dangled from his hand, nearly empty. A few more sat on the floor by his feet. "How was it?" he asked, not turning to look at her. He had gotten used to asking the question - she and Wilson had gone out at least once a week.

"Wonderful. We're going out again next week," Alice smiled, taking off her heels. "How many of those have you had?"

"Only five. It's been a few hours. Don't worry."

She perched on the opposite side of the sofa. "You've been here the whole time?"

"Why not? You were out with your new boyfriend."

"Wilson's nice."

"That's his problem. Wilson's too nice."

The next morning, Alice had already driven to work by the time Chase got up. She had been checking on the results of some tests when House paged her, making her run to his office. "What's wrong? It sounded urgent." She glanced around, noting that no one else was coming. "Did you just page me? It's obviously not for the patient's good."

"He didn't need that kidney anyway. He's got another one," House shrugged.

"What's up?" Alice crossed her arms, leaning against a bookcase.

"You're dating Wilson, or so I hear."

"And?"

"I shipped Chalice more," House told her, crossing his arms like a petulant fan who had been greatly disappointed. "You and Chase were happy."

"Well, I don't remember ever dating Chase," she smiled daggers at him.

He shook his head. ''Walice' doesn't sound right." House put his legs up on the desk, waiting for a reaction.

"Your love life doesn't make sense to me either, but I don't try to advise you on it. If that's all you've got to say, I have some tests to finish to make sure our patient doesn't die." Alice left his office, intent on heading back to the lab. However, she paused when she heard Chase talking to someone inside.

"Wilson finds broken people and tries to make them better. And when he's done, they leave and both of them are unhappy. He needs neediness. And Alice isn't broken. She just can't remember. He's going to break her heart," she heard Chase say.

Foreman's voice answered him. "Just let her see him. You can't stop her. If she wants to come back, she'll come back. If not, she won't."

"I just think she's making a mistake. He needs neediness. She-"

"You think she's making a mistake because she isn't choosing you right now."

"I just don't want her to end up getting hurt."

"No, you don't want her to end up sleeping with Wilson."

Alice ducked around a corner when the lab door opened and Foreman walked out, carrying a printout. She waited a few minutes before walking in, passing Chase without a word. He was working at one of the lab benches, pipetting something into a test tube. "Can you pass me the ethyl alcohol?" she finally asked.

Chase passed the bottle over in silence. Alice watched him continue working until Wilson walked by, waving at her through the glass. She waved back, smiling.

Finally, Chase set his work down, looking over the table at her. "Why don't you just tell him you love him and move on from me?"

"What?"

"Tell Wilson you love him and make a final decision about me. I'm getting tired of waiting around while you figure out our relationship. You've read all of your old journals, you should be able to at least know how you felt back then. I'm tired of waiting for you to come home every night and tired of waiting to see how things play out with Wilson. Am I a second option, or what?"

"I barely remember meeting you," she told him, pushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. "How can I just accept that?"

"I don't know, how can I be told I have to wait around for my wife to figure out if she loves me anymore?" Chase shook his head, walking out of the lab.

Alice sat back on her stool, trying not to cry. What the hell was she supposed to say to that?


	34. Chapter 34

Wilson was running a gel in the lab when Chase walked in, carrying a couple of test tubes. For a few minutes, he went about his business, starting several tests. "So," Chase finally broke the silence, leaning back on the lab bench, "how was your date with my wife?"

"Not too bad. We're going to see a play on Friday." Wilson turned to face him. "Look, it's nothing serious. I promise I'm not going to sleep with your wife. I'm trying to get her to remember the life she had before and try to think of you like she did when she married you."

"And? What does she think about me now?"

"She thinks you're a playboy."

Chase threw his gloves into the garbage, shaking his head. "I've shown her all our photo albums, given her all her journals, told her all about our lives. I'm the playboy, but she's the one going on damn dates! How the hell-"

Taub walked in, a look of slight shock on his face. "Did I interrupt something?" Wilson shook his head as Chase read a report off of the computer. "Well, in that case, I've got some big news. Cameron's back."

"I thought she had settled down in Chicago," Wilson said.

"Well, she's back. Their kid's in second grade, and the dad's got a job at a business around here. Cuddy took her back as head of the emergency department. Thought you guys would want to know. Also, House is looking for both of you. Says he wants you to check on the patient and see if he's still coughing blood, and then head to the clinic." Taub grabbed a few things from a cabinet and left, Chase and Wilson still slightly confused.

Alice was walking through the emergency department towards the clinic, since House had blocked up her normal route with a flurry of confused patients. He had sent them all to wait there to annoy Cuddy, but had just made it inconvenient for everyone. She paused, looking at one of the nurses intently. It couldn't be...

"Alice! How are you?" Cameron jogged over, wiping her hands off.

"You're back," Alice remarked, wondering why the hell Cameron was back at PPTH.

"Yeah. Rodney got a job a little while out of town, and it's a big promotion for him, so we came back. I applied to all of the hospitals in the area, and Cuddy called back."

"That's nice," Alice smiled, thinking. "Well, I've got to get to the clinic and deal with the chaos House has created. Maybe we can grab a coffee later and catch up."

"Sounds great. I've got a break at three."

"Cool. I'll meet you in the cafeteria."

Alice walked off, heading into the clinic, where Cuddy was busy directing people.

"Thank goodness. House sent everyone to the emergency department," Cuddy sighed, handing a file over to the nurse at the desk. "We're trying to filter people back now, but a lot of them are complaining that they're emergency cases."

"Well, I'll take whoever you have."

"Just pick a room. No, sir, a cough isn't an emergency," Cuddy turned away to address a man who kept coughing into a napkin. "It doesn't matter how many days you've had it, as long as you aren't coughing blood."

Alice opened the door to Consult Room 1, where Chase was busy writing a prescription. "Done in a moment," he said, signing the paper and sending an old woman out. "Hi. What's up?"

"Cameron's back," Alice said, perching on the exam table. "Her husband got promoted and moved to an office here."

"Taub told me."

"She's running the ER now," Alice added. "Have you seen her?"

"No. Can I ask you something?" He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Do you love me?"

"I... I trust you. I respect you. You're an incredibly nice and supportive person. You've done a whole lot for me, helping me get my life back together-"

"But do you love me?"

"Kind of," she grimaced. "It hasn't been long..."

"Did you ever love me?"

"You know-"

"Did you ever love me?" he asked again, pressing for an answer.

"I don't know. I don't remember. But I'm willing to try."

Chase shook his head, walking out of the room with the patient's file. "Chase?" Alice followed him out, walking past a gaggle of people towards the desk. "Chase, I-"

"Not now," Chase told her, grabbing another file and heading for Consult Room 4, shutting the door behind him before she could say another word.

Alice sighed, taking Consult Room 2. A man in his 30s sat there, tapping out a text message. "What's going on?" Alice asked, opening his file. "Your symptoms seem pretty generic, so you might have a couple of things."

"I made them up. Trying to skip a board meeting. It sounded like you were having quite the interesting argument out there, though," he said, looking up at her.

"It's fine."

"My wife and I separated a year ago. I understand."

She shook her head. "It's complicated."

"She slept with my twin brother. Try me."

"I was in a coma and forgot that my husband existed," Alice confessed.

"Damn," the man whistled, "you've got me beat. Do you want to stay with him?"

"He's a nice person. But I don't know if I love him as much as I did before. Everything he's told me about himself... He sounds like a womanizer with questionable morals."

"Spend some time with him. If you keep going on dates or out with friends yourself, you won't be able to look at him for long."

"Thanks," Alice said, scribbling out a doctor's note for him. "Are you a marriage counselor?"

"No. I just saw a lot of them trying to keep my marriage together." He got off of the exam table, heading out of the clinic after wishing her good luck.

"She's an immunologist, and we needed a consult," Chase explained to Taub, who had asked why Cameron had been hovering around their patient.

"We've already tested for anything we'd need an immunologist for, and they all came back negative," Taub countered. "I'm thinking you miss her, what with Alice-"

"Yeah?" Alice walked into the differential diagnostics room, moving towards the counter. "Anyone want coffee?"

"Sure," Park chimed. "Do you hate Dr. Cameron?"

"What? Why?" Alice spun around, a coffee mug in hand. She leaned on the sink as the coffee machine began brewing.

"Taub's suspicious of her consult on the case."

"Well, whatever this guy's got clearly needs more than the four of us to diagnose. Cameron's got her specialties, and I say why not let her have a look at him." She glanced down at her beeping pager, sighed, and left the room at a sprint, setting her coffee mug on the table.

Taub followed her out, breaking into a jog and saying, "He just crashed."

Chase was heading out of the lab when his phone rang. "Hello?"

"Hey. It's me."

"Hi, Alice." He barely smiled when he said that anymore. He could remember the days when he'd grin like an idiot when she called, even if it was just to ask him to pick something up from the supermarket on his way home.

"Just letting you know I'm going out tonight."

"Oh. With Wilson?" He stopped, leaning on the edge of the balcony that overlooked a reception desk.

"Yeah. Cuddy and House are joining us."

"That's nice. Well, have fun."

He was about to hang up when she added, "I'll... I'll be home by eleven at the latest, okay?"

"You're a grown woman. You don't have a curfew."

"Chase, I... Wilson's here. I should go. Bye."

"Bye, babe." He stood there watching people walk in and out of the doors until a voice appeared next to him.

"You okay?"

Chase turned to see his ex-wife standing there, her arms crossed. "I have no idea if I'm getting another divorce. She's... I don't know if she's still the woman I married."

"People change," Cameron said with a sigh. "You sure did."

"So did you. And so did she. I still love her, but... I haven't slept with my wife for a long time. Heck, I haven't even slept in my own bed for months now. She's out with Wilson and I'm... stuck here. She can go out with whoever she wants, but it wouldn't seem fair if I did, now would it? Not fair to her. I should give her a chance, but when the hell is the chance up? I'm tired of waiting up for her, waiting to see if she'll ever come back to me." He held his head in his hands, glaring at the crowd below them.

"Look, do you want to..." She glanced towards one of the unoccupied rooms nearby. Chase raised an eyebrow, to which she answered, "My husband's out of town. He'll be in San Francisco and Tucson before he gets back here. And I've got time."

"I... I shouldn't..."

"She's sleeping around, why can't you? And besides, how long has it been...?"

"A while. But-"

Chase heard Alice's car pull into their driveway late that night. He rolled over on the couch, reading '12:24' on the clock in the kitchen. Alice quietly unlocked the door, taking her heels off before re-locking it. She padded over to the sofa, where Chase was pretending to sleep and whispered, "They paged me while I was out. He crashed again, but we got him stabilized. Sorry I'm late... babe." He listened to her start to walk away, but she returned quickly, kissing his cheek before going upstairs to her bed.


	35. Chapter 35

Chase was making breakfast when Alice came downstairs, already in scrubs but still yawning. "How was your date?"

"Not a date. Wilson's nice, but... He's made me see things differently. Made me see some people differently. But something House told me... he said that Wilson meets and marries needy people. He tries to fix them, and let's them go when they're not as broken. I'm not needy or broken or anything like that. I'm just... confused, is all." She took a travel coffee cup out of the cabinet, watching Chase flip pancakes.

"Do you want me to make you some? They're chocolate. Used to be your favorite."

"Sure, thanks."

Chase set a plate down for her, trying to make pancakes into shapes as he asked, "So you're not seeing Wilson anymore?"

"No. Do you want me to make you coffee too?"

"Yeah, thanks." He noticed a glimmer on her hand and had to smile. "You're wearing your wedding ring again."

"I met this really nice, understanding guy. He's quite good looking too."

Chase sighed, his heart sinking as he sat down. "That's nice."

"He lives awfully close by," Alice told him, pulling up a chair. "I figured I should give him a chance. And I can tell he cares about me a lot."

"Oh. What's his name?" Chase asked dejectedly, taking a bite of his breakfast.

"Robert. But I call him Chase."

He coughed out a, "You're... But I thought you... Why?"

She stood up, heading for the coffee pot, which had just turned off. "Because I think what I was looking for in Wilson is right here. I think you're incredibly nice and you've been more understanding than I could have expected from anyone in your position. You've been amazing, and I can't forget that something made me fall in love with you before. And besides," she paused, kissing his cheek, "you're pretty hot."

"So I'm dating my wife?" He stretched, heading for the kitchen.

"Yeah."

"Well then, does she want to carpool to work?"

"Sure. Let me grab my bag and throw these in the dishwasher before we go."

"I've got them," Chase said, taking the plates from her hand.

"Where are you going?" Alice and Chase were leaving the lab. Alice was headed towards the conference room, where Park was doing paperwork. Their latest patient had just been discharged, and House was horribly behind on his patient records. Chase had turned down the hall.

"Hadley's got a soccer game in an hour. I've got to drive him over. It's my turn to pick up part of the carpool group." He had taken off his lab coat, folding it over his arm.

"I'll try to be there." She hadn't seen her son in weeks, but if she was going to go back to her old life, why not go? She barely remembered what he looked like. Probably blond like his dad.

"You sure? You don't have to, if you're not ready yet."

"Yeah. I'm just going to make sure Park isn't swamped with paperwork. I'll take one of their cars."

Alice and Taub drove over to the field a little while later. Park was going to meet them there later, since her parents had called when they were leaving. "Where's Chase? He said he'd have seats saved for us."

"Right there." Taub pointed to where Chase was running alongside a group of kids, helping to coach them as the other team arrived. "Let's grab a spot on the bleachers before we get pushed over by a soccer mom."

They took some seats near the field, watching as Chase ran into the other coach and fell spectacularly. "Is he okay?" Alice stood up, about to run down to the field when Chase waved and flashed a smile.

Taub handed her a water bottle from the bag they had brought with. "He's fine. Oh, there's the other team's coach. They should be starting soon."

A few minutes later, the coaches were giving their teams a pep talk when Chase jogged up the bleachers to where they were sitting. "Hey. What's up?" He gave Alice a hug, taking a seat next to her.

She fake-grimaced. "Eew, thanks. You're all sweaty and covered in grass."

Chase shrugged. "At least I remembered sunscreen. You should be proud of me."

Park arrived a little before a water break, edging past Chase to get her seat while he was loudly complaining that, "No way that call was fair! He was so out of bounds that-"

"Chase, sit. It's not going to do anything." Alice shook her head, watching her husband shout.

At the end of the game, Hadley's team had won 3-1. Chase bounded down to the field as Alice and the others packed their things up and walked down the bleachers. She bade the others goodbye before walking over to where she heard Chase talking. "Hey," he looked away from a blond boy to where she was standing. "I think someone wants to say hi to you."

He looked over and rushed towards her, Alice bending to hug her son. "Mom!"

"Hey." She smiled, looking at Chase through tear-filled eyes as she held him, mouthing, "I remember."


	36. Chapter 36

Hadley was sleeping over at a friend's house when Chase decided to take his wife on a date. He had just dropped his son off at a friend's birthday party when she called, asking if he was on call. "Surgery's short-staffed, I know. But I can't remember if they wanted you today or not."

"I'm all yours." He smiled as he drove, asking, "Do you want to go out tonight? I know you're exhausted from pulling all of that lab work, but-"

"You're right," she paused, setting a laundry basket on the kitchen table and holding the phone to her ear with a shoulder as she began to fold clothes. "But I don't have to work tonight, so we could go somewhere. Or you could pick up takeout on your way home and we could go out for ice cream later."

"Okay, I'll pick something up. Patient's stable, right?"

"As far as I know. Taub and Park are at the hospital, so they can handle it."

"I'm baaack," Chase called, holding up a takeout bag as he walked in.

Alice set down the iron, pulling the cord out of the wall and saying, "Great. I've got plates out and most all of your pants ironed. Did you bother to iron once while I was... away?"

"Eh, why bother?" He kissed her cheek, pulling cartons out of the bag. "I got you that curry you like. Rice?"

"Thanks. Hadley's got all of his stuff?"

"Yeah. Ross' dad set up a tent in the backyard. Looks like they've got most of the soccer team there and a few kids from school."

"You know, Hadley's not here tonight."

Chase knit his eyebrows, asking, "Are you suggesting that we-"

She stood, smirking. "That we can sit on the couch and not at the dinner table? Yes."

He followed her to the couch, smiling as she sat down, throwing her legs over his lap. "I've missed you. Wilson... Wilson's nothing like you. He's nice, he's sympathetic, he's understanding, but he's a teddy bear that needs neediness to survive. That's why he's still such good friends with House. But you, you're... fascinating. I don't know if it's the cute foreign boy factor or some sort of repressed tension or what, but," she set her food down on the table in front of the couch, "there's something about you." She leaned in to kiss him, Chase kissing her back and setting his food on the end table.

"Alice, I-"

"Ssh." She moved to straddle his lap, kissing him again.

His hands were on her hips when Chase asked, "You're sure about this?"

She stopped kissing him just long enough to answer with a breathy, "Please."

Alice laid in the crook of Chase's arm, her head on his bare chest. He ran a hand through her hair, watching her breathe. "Well?"

"Better than I remembered."

"I meant 'What happens now?', but that works."

She looked up at him, saying, "We keep living. Chase, I... I love you. At least, I remember what it feels like to be in love with you, and I like it. If you'll let me, I want to stay."

"And it's not just the seratonin and oxytocin talking?"

"No," she promised, sighing as the phone started to ring. "Should I get it?"

"Do you want to?"

"Not really."

The answering machine beeped as someone began to leave a message. "This is Taub. I know it's getting late, but Lucas just crashed. We got him back into sinus rhythm, but that's the second time he's crashed in an hour. He's deteriorating pretty quickly."

"We should go." Alice sat up, giving Chase a kiss before walking into the kitchen. "I'm going to make coffee and grab some scrubs. Are you coming?"

"But you've been awake for almost 24 hours by now." Chase started to head upstairs. "Stay here and get some sleep. I'll go."

"I'll be fine. I got a bit of a nap in before Taub called, and I can sleep in the car."

"Well, it's hard to argue with a woman making me coffee in nothing but her underwear. I'll grab you some scrubs too."

"Thanks."

"He's stable now, but his heart keeps flipping out," Park told them. They were sitting in the cafeteria, although it had been closed for a few hours. Park and Taub had commandeered a table and had laid out all of the papers in the patient's file.

"Let's go over everything. We must have missed something earlier," Alice said, setting her glasses on top of her head to read. "He lives alone. Probably eats a bunch of pre-processed foods. Could that be something?"

"Not likely. He would've gotten better here," Taub said. "What about a parasite? He was in Bolivia a few months ago. Said he went camping while he was there."

"Could be lepto. I'll run some cultures," Park yawned, heading out of the cafeteria.

Taub was about to follow her when he turned and said, "You two seem awfully close." He nodded to Chase, who had put an arm around his wife's waist. "Good for you." He didn't wait for a response before following Park out.

"Alice, I... There's something I've got to tell you," Chase said, hoping he wasn't about to blow up his marriage. "You ought to know now, before you get too... invested. I slept with Cameron. It was only once, while you were with Wilson. She asked, and I couldn't really say no. I mean, you had made me sleep on the couch for a long time. I was starting to think we were done."

"Does Rodney know? Her husband."

"He was out of town-"

"But does he know?"

"I don't know. I don't think so."

"Well... I should be mad at you, but I'm not. I'm just starting to get the meaning of our relationship back, so I don't really get the whole betrayal thing yet. But if it hits me later, I'll be pissed." She leaned against him, saying, "It won't happen again?"

"Never."

"That's good enough for me, at least for now."


	37. Chapter 37

The clinic had been backed up for a few hours when Alice went down there. After treating a few patients, Park's grandmother brought Hadley in, saying that it was a half-day at school. "I forgot all about it. It was her turn to get you today, though, right?"

"Yeah. We stopped for ice cream-"

"Everybody into the office, now!" An unassuming man had stood up, pulling out a gun. Immediately, people began to panic. All of the doctors who were in exam rooms pulled in the closest patients and nurses, but those outside were shepherded into an office nearby. "Get in there or I start shooting!"

"Mom!"

Alice grabbed her son's shoulder as the man gestured for them to get into the room. She nodded, steering Hadley towards the door. When the man entered, locking them inside, he instructed a teenage boy with a cough to shove a bookcase in front of the door. There were seven others in there. Chase slowly moved over to joint them, putting an arm around his wife and his son. Taub stood in the corner with Park's grandmother and another woman who was quietly sobbing. One of the nurses sat on the desk, the teenage boy leaning against the wall.

"What do you want us here for?" Alice finally asked.

"One of your doctors is an ass. A Dr. House."

"You're Owen Miller," Alice said. "House mentioned you in the clinic a few days ago. He's not here, though."

"I don't care. I'm sick, and he's been the worst FUCKING" he paused to smash a shelf off of the wall, making everyone cringe, "doctor in this whole shithole of a hospital."

"Okay, you want us to help you."

"Alice, please-"

"Chase, remember what I have a degree in." She took a step forward, taking her hands out of her coat pockets to prove that she didn't have a weapon. "Owen, we're going to find out what this is. We've got three doctors and a nurse in here. Rita," she looked over at the nurse, "can you set up that whiteboard behind you and hand me a marker? Thanks."

Cuddy sat in her office, the police team gathered around her desk. "We had this happen once before. Oh, God, I can't believe it's happening again. The witnesses say the guy was acting normally and then just flipped out."

"Give them a call," Park proposed. A police officer nodded.

The phone rang once before Alice picked up. "Hi. Everyone's alright, just shaken. We're DDXing this guy."

"What's his name?" one of the officers asked.

"Owen Miller. Mid 30s, looks like a normal guy."

"Who all have you got in there?"

"There's me, my husband, my son, Dr. Taub, Rita, Park's grandmother, and two patients. He... He's telling me to hang up now. We'll call if... if we need anything." Cuddy shook her head in silence as the call was ended.

"Body aches, fever, sore throat and vision changes," Alice said, writing in the board. "Let's work our magic."

"Viral syndrome," Rita, the nurse, proposed.

"Wouldn't explain the vision changes," Taub countered. "Cataracts compounded by gastroenteritis."

"He's also got blisters near his mouth," Chase observed, letting Hadley sit on his knee. "Coxsackie."

"We'd need some cultures run and a blood test to rule out other diseases." Alice turned to Owen, who looked defensive.

"You're taking my blood. No one else." Alice nodded, taking a syringe out of a drawer. She approached him cautiously, but he held out an arm for her, using the other to aim his gun at her stomach. "You do anything stupid and I shoot you right here."

"I've got it, see?" She held up the syringe, picking up the phone. "Hi, it's us. We're sending out some blood for tests. Full chem panel just in case. Uh, Owen, they say you have to give them something."

"I'll send the old lady."

All attention turned to Park's grandmother as Alice spoke into the receiver. "Yes, he's chosen Mrs. Park. She'll be out with the vial in a moment."

Park's grandmother took the vial and headed for the door, the teenage boy shoving the bookcase aside for her before re-barricading the door. "So what do we do now?" The woman from the waiting room had finally spoken up. "Do we just wait?"

"Well, we've just been moved to top priority in the lab," Taub told her.

"There are no windows. They can't get in unless they destroy the place," Owen mumbled.

"Paranoia could be Lyme," Taub offered.

Chase shook his head. "Schizophrenia's just as likely for paranoia."

"I'm not schizophrenic!" Owen wheeled around, aiming the gun at Chase.

Alice held her breath as her husband continued, "I never said you were. I just said it was just as likely. I'm throwing out an incorrect theory."

"You'd better watch it, Crocodile Hunter," he warned. "I've got more than enough bullets for all of you, and you've got a wife and a kid in here."

Hadley looked up at Chase, who pulled him closer, saying, "He won't. Don't worry, bud. We're going to be okay."

"Dad-"

"I said WATCH IT!"

The teenager finally spoke out. "Dude, he's a kid. He hasn't done anything. He can't drive a car, he hasn't had his first kiss. If you're going to shoot someone, don't shoot the kid."

They were interrupted by the phone ringing. Owen gestured to Alice with the gun. She picked it up, saying, "We're all okay. Are the tests in?"

"Yeah." This time it was Foreman's voice on the other end of the line. "It's negative for Coxsackie and viral syndromes."

"It's negative," Alice reported. "I've got to go, but we'll keep you posted." She hung up the phone, saying, "What else?"

"Autoimmune. Lupus," Taub proposed.

"It's hard to tell if he's losing his hair," Chase nodded at the man's bald head. "No butterfly rash, though."

"There's a minority of patients that don't get it," Taub objected.

"Sarcoidosis?" Rita guessed.

"We'd need to run the blood. I'll call Foreman." Alice picked up the phone and was connected immediately. "They want at least one more hostage. They won't do the test until we send someone out."

A few minutes later, the woman from the clinic was sent out. "I also need to do a bleeding time test," Alice told him. "I know you don't really trust me, so I'm going to get a scalpel out of the drawer over here and set it on the desk. You can come and get it, then I'll need you to nick your arm."

He nodded, doing as she said. "It's within range," Chase reported, sliding a bandage towards Owen when his arm stopped bleeding.

Cuddy was listening in when Foreman called back, saying the blood was negative for lupus. House sat nearby in silence, tapping his cane on the floor. "Do you know what this is?" Cuddy hissed, glaring at him. "If you know, you'd better tell us. We have more than just one life on the line here."

He shook his head. "The guy was in the clinic. I didn't even see him. I ran into him, knocked his stuff over, and left."

"They say they need the portable X-ray machine," Foreman said, covering the mouthpiece of the phone.

"We need a hostage," Cuddy told him, watching the police record the conversation.

"You have two minutes to pick one," Owen told the group. "If I hear any of you talking about overpowering me, I'll take your ankles out."

They formed a circle, unanimously voting to send Hadley out. Alice knelt to hug him, telling him, "Aunt Chi and Popo are out there. I want you to go to them and stay with them, okay?"

"Okay."

"You know how sometimes when daddy has to work late you'll sit with me on the couch and tell me you'll protect me from monsters until he gets home? I need you to be that brave."

"I will, mom."

Chase hugged the both of them together, saying, "I love you. We'll be out soon."

"Hurry up!"

They watched as Hadley was allowed out and told to wheel over the X-ray machine. Chase held his wife as Taub plugged the machine in and readied it.


	38. Chapter 38

"It's not sarcoidosis." Taub shook his head. "What else is left?"

"Have you been out of the country recently?" Alice asked, watching Owen lean back in the desk chair.

"Mexico."

"Maybe it's a parasite," Chase proposed. "If it's causing recklessness and a loss of inhibition, it's already moved on to the brain. We'd need a brain biopsy to confirm it."

Owen scoffed. "You'd kill me."

"We have to do it."

"You'd stab something important and I'd be dead." He stood, pacing the room.

Chase objected. "If it's a parasite and we don't detect it, you'd be dead anyway!"

Owen swung his arm wide, striking Chase's nose and releasing a spray of blood. "Oh my god, Chase..." Alice ran forward, thinking for a split second that he had been shot. No, there wasn't a gunshot wound.

He held his nose to keep it from dripping more blood onto his scrubs. "It's not broken. I'll be fine."

"You're sure?" She took his face in her hands, giving him a look that said _this guy is unstable, he's going to kill us_

"I'm sure." _I won't let him hurt you._

"Does it hurt?" _Are you sure?_

"A bit, but I just got clocked in the face with a handgun. _" Don't worry._

Alice turned back to Owen. "Do you think that was a good idea? You just hurt the husband of the doctor who's taking the lead in helping you."

"You need a brain biopsy," Taub said in a let's-get-back-to-the-medicine tone.

"You'll kill me," he repeated.

"No," Alice promised. "we'll let you hold the gun."

Thy had been allowed an operating theater in exchange for Rita and the teenage boy. That left only Alice, Chase, and Taub to perform the biopsy. As they were washing their hands, Chase whispered to his wife, "I'm not a neurosurgeon."

"You're the best surgeon in this hospital."

"I'm still not a neurosurgeon."

"We've got to do this." She left, backing into the operating room.

"So here's what's going to happen," Owen instructed. "You two," he nodded at Chase and Taub, "will do the surgery. Meanwhile, your pretty wife will sit next to me and do all those tests they have to do during brain surgery. I'll have my gun," he waved it around, making his hostages cringe, "in her stomach. If you make a mistake, I shoot her. If you do something intentionally, I shoot her. Got it?"

"Okay. We're drilling into your skull now," Chase warned.

"I'm going to hold up a couple of cards. Just tell me what they are," Alice said, carefully reaching for the first one.

"Red circle."

"Why are you doing this?" she asked. "You can't want that much vengeance on House without seeking him out. You want to create panic. Why?"

"I have nothing to go back to. Why not? Blue triangle."

"Why now?"

"Green oval. Because."

"Uh..." Chase had stopped, wondering if he should tell them what he and Taub had found.

"What is it?!"

"It looks like part of your frontal lobe is being eaten away by something."

"Prion?" Alice asked, slowly standing to see, being careful of the gun pointed at her.

"It's moving slowly. Something just snapped to make him do this."

"Have you got any lesions anywhere?" Alice questioned, taking a step back to look him in the eye.

"Why?"

"I'll take that as a yes. It's neurosyphilis. Everything fits."

"Neurosyphilis?! All of you stand in front of me."

All three doctors moved to where he could see them. Alice held Chase's gloved hand behind their backs, and she grabbed Taub's too when Owen gestured with his gun. "How the hell could it be neurosyphilis?"

"I don't know, did you have sex like... ever?"

"Chase," Alice rolled her eyes. "What about IV drugs?"

"Well, once or twice," Owen admitted. "Well, then. I'm going to get arrested if you sew me back together, aren't I?"

"You should give us the gun," Taub reasoned. "If you give it up now, they'll have a lot less to pin on you in court."

"Hmm, should I start with him? Or with blondie? Or maybe the scared little girl who insisted on sawing my head open."

"Please," Chase shook his head. "Don't hurt her. She's been through enough as it is."

"They'll probably reduce your sentence if you give yoursel-"

Taub was cut off by a gunshot. Alice screamed as someone tackled her. Someone else dropped beside her as the shot echoed off the walls. There was a few seconds' pause before the telephone began to ring in the operating theater. Alice would have answered it, but someone had pinned her to the ground. Slowly, Chase got up, looking around cautiously before allowing her to stand. Almost mechanically, she reached for the phone, still holding her husband's hand. "We heard gunshots." _There had been multiple?_

"We're all okay," she heard herself saying, almost mechanically. She glanced over to the chair. "He shot himself in the head and dropped the gun. We're going to call time of death and come out, so please don't shoot us." She hung up, nodding to the others.

Taub was looking at the wall behind them, where there were a series of cracked tiles. "He shot at us after he shot himself."

"Then you really might have saved me," Alice said, leaning into Chase's chest.

He put his arms around her, calling the man's time of death and having Taub write it down before whispering, "Of course. I love you."

"You would have died if-"

"I didn't."

"Ahem." They turned to face Taub, who had unblocked the door. He slowly opened it and walked out with his hands up, Chase and Alice trailing him. A police team rushed in to take pictures of the crime scene and make sure that Owen was really dead.

Cuddy ran towards them, trailed by a small boy. "Thank god you're alright. He's dead?"

"Yeah." Chase bent down and picked his son up. "And we got everyone else out alive."

"What happened to your nose?"

"I'll be fine. It's not broken."

Ellie handed him some tissues that she had grabbed off of the nurses' station. "Dry up some of that blood. You look like a zombie."

"Hey! We need some help here!" They bolted to where a group had formed around the teenage boy who had been one of the later hostages to be released. "He just fainted. I don't know what happened."

"He had a cough, that's all we know," Alice said, writing it on the whiteboard.

"Well, he's in a coma now," Park added. "What progresses that fast?"

House limped into the room, closely followed by Cuddy. "Park, Foreman, go search the address in his ID. Chases, Taub, you're all Cuddy's." He headed into his office, Cuddy walking over to the table.

When Foreman and Park had left, she began. "It's been a stressful day. If you three want to take some time off, be with your families, that's fine. In addition, we have trauma counselors here I can put you in touch with."

"We've got a patient. And Alice's got her psych accreditations," Chase countered. "We'll be fine."

"Honey, no," Alice shook her head, turning to her husband. "We should go. We'll go home, I'll make pancakes and bacon or something easy for dinner, we can go to sleep early, and we'll be in tomorrow." She turned back to Cuddy, asking, "Park's Popo took Hadley to our house, right?"

"Yeah. Taub?"

"Taub can stay with us if he wants. Our couch folds out and I can throw your clothes into the wash," Alice told him.

"I couldn't impose."

"You wouldn't be. And no one should be alone after something like that."

"Thanks."

"You guys saved my life. It's the least I could do."

"I'll let House know you three are taking the rest of the day off. And I'll make sure he doesn't keep calling you," Cuddy promised, walking into House's office as they left.

"Hadley, we're home," Chase announced, Alice and Taub following him in the door, "and Uncle Chris is staying with us tonight."

Hadley ran over from the living room, jumping into his dad's arms. "I did just what you said. I stayed with Popo and Aunt Chi."

"Good," Alice smiled, hugging him and Chase. "I'm just gonna make pancakes tonight, okay? We can have dinner in our pajamas. Can you run upstairs and get some extra pillows and blankets from the linen closet?"

"Okay, mom." Hadley took off up the stairs as Popo walked over.

"How are you?"

"We're okay. Glad you two are alright. Do you want to stay for dinner?" Ellie asked, setting her purse down.

Popo shook her head, saying, "I should go and see how my granddaughter is doing."

"Thank you so much for taking care of him," Alice smiled, giving her a hug.

"It's alright. I'm glad you all are okay."

The phone rang while Alice was cooking. Taub had gone to take a shower while she was washing his clothes, and Hadley was trying to find something for them watch on TV after folding out the couch. "Is that House?" Chase asked, popping some chocolate chips into his mouth.

"Those are for the pancakes," she scolded with a laugh. "And go put a shirt on. We have guests."

"It's just Taub," he shrugged. "Is it House, though? We've got a bet."

Alice looked at the caller ID. "It's Wilson." She pressed the speaker button, saying, "Hello?" as she set a pan on the stove.

"Hey," Wilson's voice said from the other end of the call.

"It actually is Wilson. Huh," Chase noted, raising his eyebrows. "I'll be right back, then."

"Good. And can you check the dryer?"

"Babe, I'm going upstairs. The laundry room's almost next to the kitchen." She made a face, Chase sighing and going, "Okay."

"Anyway, what's up?" Alice asked Wilson as she began to cook.

"I just called to see how you guys were doing."

"We're okay. Taub's staying over with us. Hadley seems fine. Chase... Chase talked to him and said it was something like how they play cops and robbers on the playground. It's sweet."

"Well that's good to hear."

"Any news on the kid?"

"From what I've heard and from what House said in the cafeteria, he's got a low-grade fever and non-congenital heart problems, but they eliminated environmental toxins and heavy metal poisoning. He works at a sat food place, so who knows what he could've picked up. But the kid's parents are there now."

Chase came back with a pile of clothes, setting them by Taub's bed. "That's good. Good that the parents are there, bad that the kid's still in a coma."

"Dinner almost ready?" Taub asked, walking out of the first floor bathroom. Alice bit her lip, trying not to smile. He had borrowed some of Chase's clothes to sleep in, but they didn't fit well.

"Five minutes or so. Look, Wilson, I should go. But text one of us if anything changes."

"Okay. Goodnight."

"'Night."

"Patient's still dying?" Taub leaned on the kitchen counter. "Is there anything I could help with?"

"Yeah, why don't you grab some plates and forks and stuff? Plates are in that cabinet, and forks are in the drawer below it. And the kid's still in a coma, but now he's got heart problems and a fever."

Chase rolled over in bed, looking at his wife, who was reading a book, her glasses perched on her head. "Yeeeeeesssss?" she smiled, setting her glasses and her book on the nightstand.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"I just keep thinking... he almost shot you."

"Well, he almost shot you too."

"It makes me wonder if there's a reason he chose us. Why were we the last three in there with him?"

"We're doctors."

"Rita's a nurse. And-"

"Who knows? You're trying to make sense of the actions of a man who was probably clinically insane. You can't. There was no method to it other than us all being doctors."

"I guess. I'm just so thankful we all walked out of that. You know, that was the first time I prayed since..."

"Since?"

"Since you got sick."

Alice sighed, clicking the lamp off. "Come here." Chase gladly wrapped his arms around her, pulling his wife to his chest. "I remembered why I married you today."

"Oh?"

"It's because when you're holding me, like you were in that room... just for a second it felt like it was going to be okay, even when he waved that gun around. Because even now, it seems like I don't have to worry about a lot of things when I'm with you. Because you were willing to take a bullet for a woman who had forgotten you. Chase, I love you."

"I love you too."

Alice had an idea. "We should renew our vows."

"That sounds great." He kissed the top of her head, thanking whatever power had saved them that day.

"We're going to have to operate and get the pleural effusion out," Foreman told them when they walked in the next day. He had sent a text in the middle of the night, saying they'd possibly need to operate. "It's dangerously close to the pulmonary vein, but with the way things are going, it's his only chance."

"I'll scrub up," Chase nodded. "I can have an OR ready in twenty minutes."

"We'll meet you down there," Taub said, heading to their patient's room with a consent form.

Alice stood nearby, watching her husband work. The patient's family was watching from the window, and Chase had nearly cleared the pleural effusion when he swore. "Clamp."

Taub handed one over, Chase trying to secure it on an area that was now gushing blood. "I need another one."

Alice clamped the second area shut as Chase tried to stitch the first one back together. "I think I've got it. The second one's still holding under that clamp? Good."

Chase lay with his head in Alice's lap on the break room couch. She was lazily playing with his hair when their pagers went off. "Is it anything worth looking at, or is House up to something?" he yawned.

"Oh my... Chase... the patient's died in recovery."


	39. Chapter 39

Alice walked in the door to the diagnostics conference room, losing her smile when she saw Chase with his head in his hands. She dropped into the chair next to him, asking, "What's wrong?"

"I'm being investigated for malpractice," he told her, handing her the letter Cuddy had given to him. "It's pending, so I can't do anything except consult. I can't do any procedures or anything, unless it's an emergency and I'm the only doctor there. They want to pull my license."

"That kid's parents are suing? The vein burst-"

"I nicked it. The second one was a burst. This and my record on the Dibala case and the last time someone tried to sue, I'll be lucky if I'm not indicted."

"Honey-"

"Apparently I'm not a good doctor!"

"Chase, look at me. You're a brilliant doctor. You're the best surgeon in this hospital. It was a mistake, and they'll realize that. They know the kid was on death's door anyway."

"If I get my license taken away, I won't be able to practice anywhere. I'll be lucky if I can get a job passing out Bandaids-"

Alice put an arm around him, saying, "They won't. And if by some horrible twist of fate they do, I'll still be here for you."

There was a knock on the glass door, Cuddy walking in. "I see he's told you."

"Yeah. What does he have to do?"

"They'll be someone in to question him tomorrow. They'll also probably want to talk to you and House."

"What if House says something stupid?" Chase asked.

"I'll make sure he doesn't," Alice promised.

Alice sat outside a conference room, distractedly flipping through a magazine. She had spent a long night up with her husband, trying to convince him that the board wouldn't pull his license. They had been called there to be questioned by a member of the licensing board, but Chase had to go first. He had been in there for over an hour, and Alice was getting listless. Cuddy had come by to give her a cup of coffee, which was half gone by the time Chase walked out. "How'd it go?"

He said nothing, giving her a hug. "I'm not supposed to tell you anything other than that it's your turn. But I love you."

"I love you too." She kissed him, heading into the room.

An older man shook her hand, introducing himself as Dr. Taber. "Have a seat." Alice sat across from him, watching as he flipped open a notepad. "You were there in surgery? Why don't you start by telling me what you remember."

"Well, the previous day, we were in a room with the boy for a few hours while we were being held hostage. He was a clinic patient in a really unlucky situation. But he stood up for my son. My husband and I took the rest of the day off, and when we came in the next morning, the rest of our team told us he would need surgery to clear a pleural effusion that was dangerously close to the heart. In surgery, most of it had been cleared when Chase nicked a vein. We got it plugged and repaired, but then another leak opened up, showing his disease had already progressed to his cardiovascular system and was waiting for a trigger, which was the surgery. He died in recovery."

Dr. Taber made a few notes, asking, "What was your final diagnosis?"

"Cryptococcosis."

"And that was made when?"

"During his recovery. Treatment didn't work quickly enough, though."

Taber made a few more notes, saying, "We're going to switch gears now. Tell me about your husband."

"He's a good man," she answered. "He's a great father, too. He's always been there for me and our son, even though all of the terrible things that have happened in our lives."

"Has he ever cheated on you?"

"That's not a medical question. I don't see how it's relevant."

"I want a feel for his ethics. Has he ever cheated on you?"

"No." She lied flawlessly. "He's been loyal, even when I was in a coma. Even when I forgot him."

"You love him?"

Alice nodded. "More than anything."

"You worked in mental health before this job. What made you leave?" Taber asked.

"I grew up with my aunt. She got sick and was one of Dr. House's patients when I met him. He offered me a job, and I had to accept, just on his reputation."

"And that's how you met your husband?"

"We'd met once or twice while I was in medical school, but only knew each other by sight. We were properly introduced by working on House's team."

"Alright." He closed his notebook, telling her, "The board's decision will be made by the end of the week. We will notify your husband and Dr. Cuddy of our decision by next week at the latest."

"Thank you." She shook his hand before leaving, heading for the diagnostics room. Chase stood alone, making a cup of coffee. She wrapped her arms around his waist. "Hey."

"Hi. How'd it go?"

"I think it went well," she said, kissing his cheek. "We'll know by next week at the latest."

"Did he grill you like he grilled me?"

"He just asked about the case, about you, stuff like that."

Chase turned to face her, saying, "He asked about the case, but then went into tons of other cases. Especially the Dibala case. And that one right after my dad died."

"It'll be alright, babe."

"I hope so."

Alice yawned, wrapping her bathrobe around herself and tying it at the waist. She turned on the coffeemaker and was looking at the news when Chase came downstairs, putting on his tie. "Babe, it's 5:21 in the morning. You don't have to be up-"

"I want to be." She kissed his cheek, saying, "I wanted to wish you good luck."

"This is like their form of a sentencing hearing. I can't do anything that'll change their minds now." He took a cup of coffee, walking to the pantry, looking at the food, shaking his head, and walking back again.

"You're pacing. Do you want anything to eat?"

"Not now. I'll grab something when it's all over." He shook his head, looking into his coffee. Opening a cabinet, he pulled out a travel mug and poured his drink into it. "I've got to go."

"Okay." Alice pulled him into a hug, instructing, "drive carefully, okay. You sure you don't want me to drive you there?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine. Gives me something to concentrate on."

"Good luck, then. I'll probably be at work when you finally find out."

"I love you."

"I love you too. Good luck, Chase."

"So is he getting fired?" Park asked, closing a file.

"He might be getting his license pulled," Taub said, watching Alice walk into the conference room. "Cuddy would have to let him go."

"Well?"

She shook her head grimly. "I haven't heard. He texted to say he'd gotten there alright, but I haven't heard anything since."

"House and Cuddy are down there, right?"

"Yeah. Have you guys found a new case yet?"

"Not yet. Did you know they're a thing?" Taub leaned against the counter.

"I kinda figured," Alice confessed. "With the way they act towards each other, well, it was only a matter of time."

"Of course she knew," Foreman scoffed. "I told you they were a thing. Pay up." Taub grudgingly fished his wallet out of his coat and started counting out bills.

"Have you found a new case?" Alice asked him, taking a seat. A mountain of files sat on the table, but remained untouched.

"Not yet," Foreman reported. "Here comes House."

They watched House walk down the hall, turning into the diagnostics conference room. All eyes were on him as he hung his cane on the whiteboard. Finally, one of them asked, "Well?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "They weren't done. I came back here because they threw me out."

"They threw you out? Chase is screwed," Taub concluded.

"No, you idiot. They threw Cuddy and I out so the board could deliberate one last time. It's not like I told the attorney she had a nice ass or anything."

"So what do we do now? Just wait for Chase?"

"Unless you've got any more interesting ideas," House answered. "I'd be happy to sit here and awkwardly stare at each other all day."

"Why don't we look through some of these case files?" Alice proposed, gesturing to the heap on the table. "Some of these have got to be old requests, but there has to be an interesting one in there somewhere."

They spent the next few hours restlessly sorting through cases. Well, the team spent their time going over the files, shredding the old ones and discussing possible current cases. House was in his office, playing a racing game on his computer. Wilson came in around lunchtime to see if Chase had gotten back. "Anyone want to join me in the cafeteria? I'm starving."

"I could use a change of scenery." Alice stood up, stretching.

Foreman agreed. Taub shook Park's shoulder, telling her that it was time for lunch. Even House limped down to the cafeteria with them. Although they all didn't eat much, it was nice to get out of the office. Alice kept checking her phone, hoping she would hear from Chase soon.

The afternoon was spent going through more files. Every so often, a nurse would bring in a possible new case from the ER, many of which were shot down within minutes. When a performance artist's case came in, they welcomed the video of her performance. "This could be a million things. I'd start testing for the paint thinner," Foreman recommended.

"Space heater," Taub pointed out. "Carbon monoxide poisoning."

They turned to Park and Alice, but the discussion was stopped when Chase opened the door of the conference room, waving a file around triumphantly. "Acquitted!"

Alice jumped up to hug him. Park gave him a hug next, Taub and Foreman shaking his hand. House walked into the room, nodding at him. "Nice to know my doctors aren't murderers. Well, at least not legally, anyway."

"House," Alice warned.

"We should go out and celebrate," Taub proposed. "Besides, all of the blood tests and tox screens take a while to run."

Four days later, the team sat in the differential diagnostics room, waiting. "Where is House?" Taub looked at his watch. "It's nearly 10 AM."

"Foreman isn't in either," Park said. "Maybe there's a bad traffic accident blocking the road or something."

Alice stood up and went to investigate. When she returned, she announced, "Cuddy isn't here either. But Foreman's in talking to some people in her office. The assistant said one of them is a cop."

"No accidents on the news," Taub reported, reading off of his phone. "Wait. What the hell?"

"What is it?"

He began to read. "' _An unnamed man crashed his car into a suburban home last night. Police have not yet release his name or the name of the homeowner, but reports say that this feud occurred over a broken relationship. A witness to the event says that he was thrown out of the car before the assailant drove down the block, made a U-turn, and smashed through the front window_.' Maybe we'll get that guy in the ER. We don't see that every day."

"House isn't picking up," Chase said, setting his phone down. "Neither is Wilson."

"Forman ought to have some answers," Taub told them, watching as he walked into the room.

"What's going on?" Alice asked. "Where is everyone?"

"Wilson is taking a day off. He did something to his arm." Foreman paused to sigh. "I've got some bad news. Last night, House crashed his car into Cuddy's front window. He's just been caught. He'll spend some time in jail for sure. Cuddy's resigning, effective immediately. They've made me the new Dean of Medicine. Chase, I need to talk to you." Chase nodded, following him into the hallway.

"He's going to prison. Wow," Park whistled.

Alice shook her head. "Poor Cuddy. She doesn't deserve this. He just... snapped."

"What's going to happen to all of us now?" Taub was asking the practical questions. "Is there even a Department of Diagnostic Medicine now?"

"We've functioned without House before," Alice offered.

"It wasn't for an extended amount of time."

"I wonder what they want Chase for."

"Probably something to do with licensing," Alice shrugged. "He's had to scan all his paperwork in and update a lot of it."

Chase and Foreman reentered the room. "I've talked to Dr. Chase, and he has accepted," Foreman announced. "He's becoming the new head of Diagnostic Medicine."

"Congratulations!" A few of them cheered. Alice gave him a quick hug, saying, "We'll have to update HR soon."

"I'll keep you all posted on House and Cuddy," Foreman promised. "Wilson should be in tomorrow or the next day. He wasn't hurt too badly."


	40. Chapter 40

Chase held up his first case file as the head of Diagnostic Medicine. "46 year-old woman with a myoclonic jerk and beginning-stage kidney failure."

"What's her history?" Alice asked, reaching for the stack of files in the middle of the table.

"ER says no recent trauma or travel."

"Her heart rate was slightly elevated," Park added, looking at her copy of the patient file.

"We'll start with a standard tox screen and pan out from there," Chase instructed, heading into his new office and continuing his work.

"He does know this is probably temporary, right?" Taub asked, looking to the others.

Park shook her head, standing up. "Let's just go do a tox screen. It's a standard procedure, and it can't hurt."

Alice agreed. "I'll be there in a minute. I'm going to talk to Chase first, though." The others filed out, Alice walking into the neighboring office and dropping into a chair. "Hey. I hope I don't need an appointment to see you."

"Hey." Chase was busy typing up an email, adding one last line before turning to her. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to congratulate you," she smiled. "And thank you for not treating them like House did."

"Speaking of House, the prison called me. He's going to do some time, but he'll be back here more and more after a few months. When he's on parole, he'll be able to come to work. We'll still monitor him, but..."

"So you're not running the department for too long?"

"Actually, Foreman asked if I'd like to keep the position. House would still be the big brains, but I'd be running things around here."

"That's great!"

"Yeah, but House left a mess of stuff. I've got to clean up the crap on this computer and download the programs that the hospital uses. Could you do me a favor?"

"Sure. Taub and Park can handle the tox screen."

"You're not gonna like it," he prefaced.

"What is it?"

"House hasn't written up case files in a long time. The patient files are all boxed up on those shelves. If you had time, could you-"

"I'll start now," she offered, pulling the first box down from the shelf by his desk. "Some of these go back three years."

"I told you it's been a long time."

Taub burst into the office, carrying a printout. "She's clean, but she started seizing when Park was drawing another vial of blood."

"We dosed her with Lorazepam, but it's going to happen again unless we figure out what this is," Park told them, trailing Taub.

Alice leaned on her box of files. "Rhabdo. It fits, and we can treat without confirmation. Bicarbonate won't do anything terrible if that's not it."

"I'll start her on an IV as soon as she's calmed down," Park nodded. "What are all of those?"

"While you guys are working on the patient, I get to work on typing up these files."

"There's got to be over a hundred," Taub whistled, helping her carry the other box into the diagnostics room.

"Three years' worth," Alice confirmed, taking the first stack out of a box. "Chase asked me to type them all up."

"She's not responding well," one of the nurses stuck her head into the diagnostics room a few hours later.

Alice was still typing, but the others were eating dinner from takeout boxes. Chase came in from his office, carrying a box of lo mein and saying, "We should search her house. Maybe it's poisoning from something there."

"We should try to figure out what's making her seize so much. Bicarbonate didn't calm it down, so it can't be rhabdo," Alice contradicted. She set down the file she was working on, perching her glasses on her head and rubbing her eyes before taking a sip of coffee.

Chase shook his head. "Alice, Taub, check the house. Park, keep watch on her. Make sure she doesn't start seizing again." He headed back into his office, leaving them to look at each other.

"Let's go," Alice sighed, turning off her laptop.

Taub followed her into the elevator, carrying his takeout box. "You're not going to challenge that?"

"What can I do?" She leaned against the elevator wall. "He's the department head. We should check the house, but I'd rather we focused on the patient that's currently in the hospital."

When they got to the house, Alice could see that there would be a lot to find. "This place looks like some old hippie owns it."

"Some old hippie does own it," Taub told her, watching as she picked open the lock on the front door. "You've got to get a look at our patient. Straight out of the 1970s. Maybe there'll be some pictures in the house."

Alice walked into the house, trying to take it all in. Folk art pieces hung everywhere, and potted plants were on almost every surface. "Are any of these poisonous? I'm not caught up on my herbology."

"These all look like spices to me, but we can clip a few to take them back. I'm going to check out the basement." Taub headed downstairs, flicking on the lights. Alice was headed to the kitchen, but he called her back. When she came downstairs, she could see why. Artificial sunlight lit the basement room, which was filled with row upon row of marijuana plants. In addition, a complicated chemistry set was set up on a table in the back of the room. "I think this might have something to do with it."

"The tox screen was clean, though," Alice objected. Nevertheless, she put some of the plants and soil into a plastic bag. "How the heck do you fool that?"

Taub was over by the table, where several apparatuses were distilling something that was slowly being dripped into a small dish. "I don't know what this is, but I'm not going to taste it."

Alice joined him, looking at it cautiously. "I'm not sure what she's making here."

"It could be the son's. This might not even be related."

"Something gets on the son's clothes, she inhaled it while washing them, and now she's sick. It makes sense."

"The only problem is that it's not a respiratory issue."

"Either way, we need to bring some of this stuff back and test it."

Chase had come down to check on their patient, who was sleeping. Her son sat in a chair next to the bed, lazily eating gummy bears and watching something on his phone. "Hey, doc, want some?"

"Sure, why not? She's been doing alright since we last checked on her?" He picked up her chart, glancing over it.

"Yeah. She's been asleep, mostly."

"Great." He saw that Alice and Taub had returned and were waving from outside of the room. "I'll be back in a little while."

"We've sent some stuff down to the lab, but I think they've been making drugs in their basement. That might have something to do with it," Taub summarized.

"Drugs could've set off a number of conditions. What did you find?"

"They're growing pot. I've got some tests running to see if they were using anything harmful to grow it," Alice said. "There was also something distilling. I'm not sure what it was, but - Chase, are you okay?"

He had reached out for the railing on the wall, trying to steady himself. "I, uh... What?"

"Have you eaten anything lately?" Taub was steering him towards the break room, Alice following in concern. "Other than takeout, I mean."

"The kid... Gummy bears? Why are you all..." He gestured vaguely as they deposited him on the couch. "All swirly?"

"Stay with him. I'll be back." Alice stormed out of the room and into the patient's, pulling her son's earbuds out of his ears. "What did you give Dr. Chase?"

"Just a few... oh shit." He glanced down at the bag of gummy bears that he had been eating. All of the green ones had been separated and set aside. "He grabbed some of those ones."

"What's on them?" Alice demanded.

"LSD. Look, if you're going to the cops-"

"Kid, you're 22 and you've already got a drug record. It's not my job to turn you in. However, you just drugged my husband and almost killed your mother, if that's what she's been taking too. You've been sneaking her the drugs, right?"

"Yeah," he admitted, looking at the woman in the bed. "My first trip was when I was 16. Some kids got their license. I got an LSD gummy bear. Mom and I have been tripping together for years now. I just brought her some to make her happier. She hates hospitals."

"No more until she's better, and then in very controlled doses," she hissed a warning. "Now I've got to deal with the mess you've created."

Alice was reading a magazine when Chase woke up. In the last six hours, he had tried to talk to her about all sorts of revelations that he'd had and how the walls were dripping like wax. He'd played foosball with Taub, who had found the experience hilarious, and then tried to build a tower out of books. When he'd finally gone to sleep, it was a relief for all of them. "What the hell happened?" he asked, looking over at her. "I feel weird."

"We solved the case. She'd had a serotonin storm because of an LSD overdose. Her son sustained it by bringing more into the hospital. Park started her on an antagonist and benzodiazepine a few hours ago. She's doing much better. The tests came back, and it was LSD that they were making in the basement. Meanwhile, you've been tripping."

"What? How?"

"The kid gave you some gummy bears, and of course, you had to grab one of the dosed ones. It was pretty funny, to tell you the truth. I swear Taub didn't post the video online."


	41. Chapter 41

Months had passed, and House had returned to Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, still monitored, but able to work. The others had treated him carefully, some wanting to not get yelled at and others not wanting to lose their jobs. Chase was still technically in charge of the team, but House was the effective leader. This presented its own set of challenges. However, everyone was interested when Park brought in a case from the ER. "Foreman sent this one up to us specially. 30 year-old missionary from Namibia came in with a splitting headache and started getting severe stomach pains. His liver's failing."

"Liver failure could be the result of any number of toxicities."

"More likely he picked something up," Alice countered, looking over her glasses to read the file.

"He passed the airport health checks," Taub shook his head. "Report says he was cleared to come back into the country."

"Just because he was asymptomatic then doesn't mean he was okay."

"She's right." House spoke, everyone turning to him like they were going to get a lesson from a medical guru. "He could have any number of tropical diseases. Those health checks are done by underpaid and undereducated doctors who check for the basics plus Ebola. Anything that lies dormant could slip past them. Add to it the plane ride, hundreds of passengers stuffed into an airplane for hours over the Atlantic, you've got a Petri dish already brewing."

"Hep E. It's rare, but not in subtropical regions," Park proposed. Chase wrote it down on one side of the whiteboard. "It could also be B."

"Leishmaniasis," Taub offered.

Chase shook his head. "No swelling or lesions."

"Then scistosomiasis," he corrected himself.

Chase added the suggestion with a, "maybe."

Their pagers went off, Alice reading out, "He's started bleeding profusely."

"Cool. From where?" House asked, trying to look over her shoulder.

"Everywhere." She looked up at Chase, saying, "He's vomiting blood. His gums are bleeding. Oh Lord… He's bleeding from where they out in an IV line, and he's forming ecchymoses - hemorrhagic spots. Chase, I think we need to call the CDC. If this is any form of hemorrhagic virus, we can't keep it here."

"We need to confirm," House pressed. "Get some blood tests running."

Alice had to object. "House, if this really is-"

"Go."

Taub and Park got up and began to walk out, agreeing that they would take extreme safety precautions. Chase went to find Foreman, Alice following him as House tried to log onto Chase's computer. "We've got to tell him," Alice pressed, moving next to her husband. "Even if we remotely suspect it, we have to. This isn't a biosafety level 3 facility, Chase."

"I know, and that's what I'm going to do. We're going to call the CDC, and they'll be out soon. In the meantime, we need to get his bleeding under control."

Alice waited in the receptionist's office, pacing while Chase talked to Foreman. She could see them nodding solemnly, and was watching when Foreman picked up the phone. He was talking for a few minutes before he hung up and began to give Chase instructions. Taub and Park came to find her, saying that, "It's not Crimean-Congo. The other tests will take a little longer, but we can rule that one out. Did they call the CDC?"

"Yeah. Did you guys alert the clinic and the ER?"

"They've already been sanitized and people are being monitored," Taub assured her.

"They moved Mr. Peters to a quarantine room," Park added, taking her glasses off and cleaning them on her coat. "His bleeding's calmed down for now, but we've got plenty of bags of blood on hand in case it starts up again. House has been trying to talk to him, but it's not working."

"House, talking to a patient? You're sure House isn't the sick one?" Alice smiled. She saw Chase heading towards the door, the three of them turning to face him. "Well?"

"The CDC crew will be here in a few hours. We've got to keep him isolated and fully suit up whenever we go in there. Then we'll all have to be monitored for a few days to make sure we didn't catch it."

"But none of us came in contact with him until after we realized we had something disastrous on our hands," Taub objected.

"Park brought in the case. She saw him in the ER, and then was in with all of us. It's possible we go it," Alice told him. Realization flooded into her eyes as she added, "Most of these diseases only become contagious when they become symptomatic. He flew in a few days ago and was fine. The people on his flight are okay, but anyone he's met in approximately the last 24 hours could have been infected."

"We've got to get a list together," Taub said, grabbing a piece of paper from the receptionist's desk. "If this gets out in Princeton..."

By eleven o'clock that night, the CDC team had still not arrived. Mr. Peters had been bleeding off and on, one or two of the team having to suit up every time he started gushing blood. "He's gone through a body worth of blood in less than seven hours," Taub complained, sitting down in the break room after giving their patient a fresh transfusion, then going through all of the decontamination steps. "At this rate, he'll be dead in a few days at the most."

Park yawned, turning on the coffee machine. "We should try to figure out what this is," she proposed, setting out coffee mugs for all four of them. House had gone home, against Foreman's wishes. He couldn't be held until the CDC confirmed a quarantine was needed, so he had gotten out of the hospital. The rest of them had met up in the break room.

"You said it wasn't Crimean-Congo," Chase confirmed from the couch. Alice had taken up a spot next to him, dozing off on his shoulder. He put an arm around his wife, kissing the top of her head and saying, "It can't be Lassa. He isn't swelling, and his heart rate is too slow. Plus he isn't coughing."

"Well, he was negative for Ebola," Taub reminded them from his armchair. "What about Marburg?"

"He doesn't have a rash, does he?"

"Oh yeah. And the only organ that's failing so far is the liver, and they'd all be failing this far into Marburg," Taub corrected himself.

A man in a business suit entered, asking for Chase. Chase stood up, carefully putting his coat under Alice's head. He followed the man out and returned alone a few minutes later. "They're going to keep him here until morning, and then move him out to a more secure hospital. We're going to be kept under observation for a few days. The clinic and ER patients he came into contact with were released, and they're holding the nurses that he bled on. We're also being held, since we've been near him a lot."

Park handed them all coffee mugs, setting Alice's on the table. "Where are we supposed to report?"

"They don't want us leaving the room. They said we'd have a restroom and a microwave and stuff, everything we'd need for a day in solitary," Chase smiled. "It's better than sitting in an isolation room."

"So we just wait here? What happens if we get sick?" Park looked around, noting that, "we don't exactly have any medical equipment in here."

"One of us will have to call the nurses' station."

There was a knock at the door, which swung open seconds later. House angrily limped in, nodding hello to all of them. Before he closed the door, they all got a glimpse of the plastic sheeting that had been set up outside as a temporary airlock. He came over to the couch, pushing Alice over with his cane. She yawned, scowling at him before sitting up and giving him half of the sofa. "Hello to you too."

"They're quarantining us, babe," Chase explained as House set a bag on the table and began taking microwaveable meals out of it.

"They gave us a bunch of these," House told them, dumping the rest of the bag on the coffee table. "We're going to be in here for a day or two, depending on how the patient does."

"Is anyone else coming in here?" Chase asked. "Aren't there other people who could've been infected?"

"They cleared the clinic and the ER," House informed them all. "There's us and a group of nurses on the first floor. They're being held in a clinic room."

"At least we've got a shower and a microwave. And a TV."

"Yeah, that'll help us if we start coughing up blood," House quipped, hanging his cane on the back of a chair. "Did any of you idiots figure out what's killing him?"

"It's not Crimean-Congo, Lassa, or Marburg," Chase told him, helping Alice carry the frozen meals he had brought into the refrigerator. "Hey, someone left ice cream bars in here."

"So we know what it's not. I'll repeat the question: What's killing the guy? Toss me one of those. It's almost time for a midnight snack."

Alice threw him an ice cream bar, reasoning, "He came in with a headache, then his liver started failing. When he was admitted, he began vomiting blood. That usually happens when you've got nothing left in your stomach, which means he'd been sick earlier in the day. Then he started bleeding from his gums and from every puncture wound we have him. He was in Namibia, right? Perfect place for Rift Valley fever."

"There's no treatment for that," Park thought aloud, stretching over an armchair. "Even if we figured out what it was hours ago, he'd still be dying."

"Fatality's 50%. All of us have been exposed."

"It comes from eating bushmeat or coming in contact with dead animals. There have been no reported human-to-human cases," Alice assured him. "Besides, we took proper medical precautions all the way. We're probably going to be fine."

House had picked up the phone, dialing the CDC. "Skip all the obvious tests and get to Rift Valley. We need a confirmation. No, none of us are sick. Just do the damn test."

With a confirmation of Rift Valley fever, the team was forced to wait out a quarantine period. When they were finally released, they were told that Mr. Peters had started to improve. He had gone through many blood transfusions and round-the-clock monitoring for any problems, but had come out of the worst period of the disease. Chase was in his office answering emails when Wilson came in, looking grave.

The rest of the team had gone home, but Alice came over from the diagnostics conference room, where she had been writing up the file and waiting for Chase. "Hey, James. Something wrong?"

Wilson sighed, gesturing for her to have a seat. "There's something I've got to tell the two of you. I've already told Foreman and House about this, but it's not public news yet, so I'd prefer if you could keep it quiet for a little while." He paused before confessing, "I have cancer."


	42. Chapter 42

"I've only got a few months. Aggressive chemo didn't work," Wilson was telling Alice and Chase. It was in the evening, and the three of them had gathered in the diagnostics conference room. House's office, which Chase had ceded back to him, was empty, the lights switched off. Park and Taub were already headed towards the locker rooms to go home. Wilson had caught them before they signed out. "I'm going to give my two weeks' notice tomorrow."

"I'm so sorry." Alice got up and hugged him. "You're sure..?"

"Yes. It probably will be before New Years."

"If there's anything we can do, let us know," Chase told him. "We'll be here if you need anything."

There was a knock on the glass door, a nurse coming in. "We need you down in the ER. Building fire spread to surrounding apartments downtown. The first ambulances are arriving in five."

Park and Taub joined them in the ER. "I'd just gotten in the car when I got the page," Taub was telling Alice as he wrapped bandages around a young man's burned arm. "They say the fire broke out in an abandoned building and caught the apartments nearby."

Alice nodded, concentrating on stitching together a woman's eyebrow. It had split open when a beam fell on her. Alice had already taken care of her accompanying burns. "Chase and I were still here, talking to Wilson. Has he told you?"

"Yeah. Can you pass me that box of gauze? Thanks. But yeah, he told me chemo wasn't taking. We should do something for him."

"We can't really throw a retirement party, considering the circumstances." She turned back to the woman, saying, "You're good to go. Just keep everything clean. None of the burns are too bad."

"Thank you." She stood up, taking her purse from the table beside her bed.

Alice moved over to help Park bandage up a child who had been burned, not too badly, but fairly extensively. Chase was scrubbed up in surgery, grafting skin onto a man whose body had been over 50% covered in second and third degree burns. Wilson had been called away to help one of his patients, and Foreman remained in his office, trying to handle the influx of patients. "He's probably sending some of them over to Mercy," Park proposed, slathering the child's arm with burn cream. "We're closer, but I think all the emergency beds are filled."

"He's got people with milder burns in the clinic," Taub said, moving on to the next bed. "The nurses are taking care of them."

Chase walked in, still in surgery scrubs. He took the patient in the bed next to Alice and Park's. "How'd surgery go?" Alice asked, taping down some of the gauze.

"All of the grafts seem like they'll take pretty well, but we had to amputate a finger with fourth-degree burns. You could see all the way through to the bone."

"He was the worst one, right?"

Chase nodded. "Yeah. I'm still on call in case someone else comes in that needs emergency surgery, but I'm helping here for now."

Park checked her pager, which had begun to buzz. "Foreman wants all of us in his office. He says it's urgent."

They all assembled in Foreman's office a few minutes later, leaving the ER in the hands of other on-duty doctors. Foreman sat gravely, his hands folded on his desk. "We're going to the scene. They have too many people trapped there and not enough ambulances. Who has the biggest car?"

On the way over, no one said a word. They ended up turning off the radio, silence engulfing the car. Alice stopped at the smoldering ruins, the team getting out as the sun rose. Firemen were still at work, carefully searching for survivors.

"Some people live for days in collapsed buildings. He could still be in there," Park offered. The rest of them stood silently, watching as a charred corpse was removed from the building.

"We knew he was in there," Foreman finally said. "Wilson and I traced him here."

Back at the hospital, tests were being done on the bodies pulled from the rubble. Around 8 AM, Foreman called them in again to say that House had been killed. "What do we do now?" Park asked, looking around at the others for an answer. "House was the one who held the team together."

"Chase will take over permanently," Foreman told them. Chase nodded, taking his wife's hand. "We keep on doing what we always do. Sure, it'll take a bit more brainpower, but we can do this. We've always managed to work whenever House disappeared before."

A few days later, they sat in front of a small, black urn on a pedestal, watching people file into the funeral home. Chase and Alice had been early, taking seats before most of the others arrived. Taub and Park joined them in the area where those giving speeches were told to sit. Alice watched as Stacy Warner and House's mother arrived and greeted each other. They were followed by the woman House had sham-married, Dominika. She was crying, wiping her eyes as she sat down. Cameron and her husband, Rodney, sat near the back of the room. Her daughter, Emma, had stayed home. Hadley was at home too, Park's Popo watching him.

One by one, people got up to give their speeches. Alice stared at the urn, barely paying attention. She felt Chase let go of her hand and get up to speak, but didn't hear much of what he said. Finally, it was her turn. Glancing over the crowd, she managed to say, "Uh, House was... We all hated him at one time or another. Believe me, I wanted to throttle him more than a fair share of times. But he introduced me to my husband, and to the job I love so much. Yes, he was demanding, but that was all part of the job. He got things done. He saved lives. And he definitely helped mine."

Chase took over the Diagnostics Department, keeping the others on as fellows. Cameron and her family soon returned to Chicago, and Foreman remained Dean of Medicine. Cuddy had called, but hadn't been at the funeral. One day a few months later, Alice had checked the mail to find a postcard from California. On the back was a simple message: _Don't be idiots. W sends regards. - H_

 _"_ Chase!" She ran inside with it, telling him, "He's alive!"

The others had gotten similar postcards, which they showed each other in the conference room. "Do you think Foreman knew?"

"Of course. He let Wilson go early so he could leave with House," Taub noted.

"It's nice he sent us word that he's alive," Park smiled, flipping her postcard upside down in her hands.

Chase walked into the room, setting down some copies of a patient file. "24-year-old man presenting with amnesia and excessive hunger. Tried eating the pens the nurses kept on the check-in station."


	43. Chapter 43

"Just because you're in charge of the department doesn't mean you get to run everything," Alice remarked as she ironed her clothes for work. Chase was taking to her from the home office, which they shared. "That's my library too."

"Honey, I'm just in here working on a report that Foreman asked for."

"Well, Hadley's got homework to do, and I need to order a present for Taub's birthday."

"Can't you do that from your phone?" he called back.

"Chaaaase, didn't anyone teach you to share?" She paused, taking another shirt out of the laundry basket. "Besides, we'll have a new library in a few months. I found another desk to put in there. I'll email it to you soon. We'll just have to move a few of the bookshelves around."

"Fine. Let me finish this first, though."

She rolled her eyes, knowing he'd be there for at least another hour. When the phone rang, she was glad to discover that Park had found a case. "He's got amnesia and visual agnosia," Park told her. "It's pretty bad. He can't remember what he had for breakfast or where he came from, and he can't recognize basic objects."

"I'll be right in." A little louder, Alice added, "Chase has a report that he needs to finish, but I'm sure he won't be far behind."

Alice made it to the hospital much earlier than Chase did. Taub and Park brought her up to speed, saying that the patient had been found wandering around downtown when someone stopped to see if he was okay. "He said he didn't remember where he had come from, but that his name was Tim Rockwood and he wasn't supposed to be in town today."

"It sounds like a psych case. I'll go talk to him." When Alice came back, she reported, "He's got both anterograde and retrograde amnesia. He doesn't remember either of you or where he lives. Luckily, he had his license on him."

"Alice, you and Taub search his home. Park, check on where he works," Chase instructed, walking in from his office.

"Were you even listening?" Alice objected, raising an eyebrow. "When did you get here?'

"He had a license on him that matches his picture. You and Taub go to the address on it, Park can run his name and phone number to see where he works if there aren't any business cards in the wallet." He held his hands up. "See? I can think of solutions too."

"Okaaaaay." She stood up, putting on her coat. "Let's go, Taub."

Taub followed her out silently, waiting until they were in the parking garage to ask, "Something wrong between you two?"

"He thinks he owns the library at home."

"That's it?" He pulled open the door of his car, checking the address on his phone when he sat down. "You two are mad because he was in the home office too long?"

"No. I'm mad because he thinks he owns everything now that he's in charge of the department." Taub turned out of the parking garage, checking for oncoming cars before making a left. "When he first got put in charge, it was small things, like he'd say he had too much paperwork to do after dinner and he wouldn't help me with the dishes. Then he started expecting me to do things - to make dinner when it was his turn, or clean the bathrooms, or wash his shirts when he was perfectly capable of picking up a thing of bathroom cleaner or throwing his laundry in the wash."

"But he's been in charge for a few months. Why snap on him now?"

"A few days ago he told Hadley he'd be much better at soccer if he didn't fool around with his friends on the field as much. After making me give up what I was doing to bring him home from practice. Normally, I'd agree that practice is important, but those kids have been pushing themselves so hard in training for the division finals. They haven't been messing around. So when they lost last night, and Chase started complaining that Hadley could've done better, I nearly lost it. I told him he needed to be a more supportive father and that just because he leads the department doesn't mean he has to turn into House. We're turning at the next street."

Taub made the turn before responding. "He's obviously under pressure from Foreman, and he's still getting used to the job. Just-"

"Is he cheating on me?"

"What?" Taub looked over at her for long enough that the light turned green, causing a few other drivers to honk their horns at them.

"Chase is out a lot. He stays late at work, even when we don't have to. When he is home, half the time he's locked in that office and will only talk to me if he's hungry, or if he needs something done. Whenever we plan to go out for dinner, he's always late, if he doesn't cancel." They parked at the patient's house, getting out and looking around for neighbors as Taub picked the lock open. "And he's really defensive all the time. Just tell me the truth, Chris."

The lock clicked open, Taub and Alice walking inside as he said, "He's not cheating on you. He's actually staying at work super late and is actually under a lot of stress... like our patient seems to be." He had opened the pantry door to find a recycling bin full of empty liquor bottles. "Maybe we've got something here."

"You think it's Korsakoff's Syndrome?"

"It's a good idea, isn't it?" he asked, sorting through the bottles. "Underlying conditions set off by alcoholism. It would explain everything."

"Well, yeah. It's definitely possible if he's an alcoholic. So you're sure he's not cheating?" She kept opening kitchen cabinets, on the off-chance they would find something else.

"I'm positive. I've seen him at the hospital at 1, 2 in the morning." Taub took out his phone, calling Park to tell her to "start him on dialysis and IV thiamine and oral B-complex vitamins. Alice and I'll be back soon."

When they got back to the hospital, they found their patient wandering through the clinic. "Mr. Rockwood? Where are you going?" Together, they steered him back to his bed and told the floor nurses to look out in case he wandered off again.

"Wandering away isn't a symptom of Korsakoff's Syndrome," Taub noted when they were back in the conference room. "Everything else is consistent, though."

"Wandering off may not even be a symptom," Chase corrected. "Treat for Korsakoff's."

"I've already started," Park assured them.

"Wait a minute, we can't just ignore the fact that he wandered off," Alice objected, writing it on the whiteboard.

Chase erased it, saying, "Yes, we can. If he's incapable of forming new memories - and we know that he is because he forgot who Taub and Park were - he forgot why he's here. So he figured he got lost and tried to leave."

"But if wandering off is a symptom, that points to Pick's disease. In which case we need to start palliative care, because he can't come back from that."

"Park, start the IV and the pills," Chase instructed, staring at Alice as he made his decision. Park quietly left the room after casting a glance at both of them.

"If it's Korsakoff's, he has a chance. If it's Pick's, he doesn't. One is an external problem, one is an internal problem. We need a neuro expert."

"No." Chase had made his decision and was going to stand by it. "This is nearly classic Korsakoff's disease."

Alice objected, telling him that, "Foreman-"

"I don't need Foreman. I can handle a case on my own." Chase went back into his office, sitting down at the computer.

Alice barely noticed Taub, who was watching in amusement. Instead, she took a copy of the patient's file and matched directly to Foreman's office, passing the receptionist without asking if he was busy. "I need a consult."

"Okay." He nodded, Alice sitting down.

"We've got a patient with amnesia, both kinds. He's also got visual agnosia. It's pretty bad. He can't find the words for basic objects we present him with. At first we thought Korsakoff's, since we found dozens of bottles at his house. But then when we got back, we found him wandering the halls. I think the wandering, plus visual agnosia and amnesia makes it Pick's."

"What does Chase think?" Foreman leaned back in his chair.

"My husband thinks he wandered off because he forgot why he's here. He also thinks we don't need to consult a neuro expert." She handed over the chart, which Foreman looked over.

"Honestly, it could be either one. There's no harm in the treatment for Korsakoff's if it's really Pick's, so why not try? You could run a test in the meantime."

She picked the file up from his desk, standing up with an, "okay."

"Hold on. Why are you really here?"

Alice held up the file again. "I have a case. I needed a neuro consult."

"You passed your psych tests. You've got a PhD. I'm sure you didn't need my help on something simple like this." He crossed his arms, waiting.

"That was years ago, and I did _forensic_ psych. I didn't get to flex my DDX muscles for a while." She smiled an ingratiating smile.

"You're here because of Chase. You don't want him to be the one wearing the pants all the time. This case was just your excuse to get someone to validate that."

"Fine," she admitted. "I think he's being a complete ass. We're supposed to share the pants, but he's been taking them over. Being in charge here is one thing, but I shouldn't have to cater to everything he wants 24/7. And he's cheating on me."

"As your friend, I'm sorry. As Dean of Medicine, I can say that he's been here at the hospital a whole lot. This is where he goes when he isn't at home. I think that can put your suspicions to rest. He hasn't slept with anyone other than you since that whole thing with Cameron, at least to my knowledge."

"What thing with Cameron?"

"When you two were separated, when you were recovering from being poisoned and that coma... He never told you?"

"He did. But… When this case is over, can you transfer me to the Psych Department? Working with him all the time isn't going to make this any better." Her pager beeped, Alice shaking her head. "We were all wrong. He's developed pika now. Started trying to eat rubber gloves."

"I took him off the IV," Park told her when she got back to the patient's room. Taub was busy trying to prevent him from eating his charts. "We were wrong about Korsakoff's, but I don't think it's Pick's either."

"Klüver-Bucy," Alice announced, watching Taub take the IV tube out of Rockwood's mouth. "Gnawing on everything in reach would be almost definitive, if you take the other symptoms into account. It isn't textbook, but Pick's would also point to it. In that case, there still isn't a treatment, but there's hope."

"So we get him on psychotropics," Taub added, moving a case of flowers out of reach. Park agreed.

As they sat around the table in the diagnostics conference room, Chase erased the whiteboard. "Looks like I was right about the wandering. Nice catch with pika though, Park."

"I think this would be a good time to tell you all that I'm leaving," Alice announced. The others looked at her with wondering faces as she explained, "I'm moving to the Psych department. Gonna put that PhD to full use again. I'll still be at the hospital, though."

Chase followed her down the hall as she carried a box of her things towards the Psych Department's offices. "Alice, what's going on? All of this is pretty sudden. We never discussed-"

"That's the point. We never discuss anything anymore. We don't even discuss stupid, trivial things. Instead I'm told what to do all the time, and Hadley's blamed for things that are out of his control. You aren't my boss when we aren't at work. You're my husband, and the father of my child. And you need to start acting like it."


	44. Chapter 44

"Mom, come look what I can do!" Hadley ran into the house, carrying a soccer ball under his arm. Alice smiled, putting her glasses on and setting down her book.

"Okay, not in the house," she laughed, following him out into the back yard, where Hadley managed to shoot a goal from the opposite end of the yard. "Nice job! Have you shown dad yet?"

Hadley jogged back from the goal that had been set up in the yard for years. "Dad says he's busy. He's still working in the office," he explained with a shrug.

"Ah, that's okay. Maybe after dinner. Keep on practicing. I'll call you when it's ready." Alice sighed as soon as she was far away enough that Hadley wouldn't hear. Chase had been cooped up in the office far too much, even though he was still working through the quagmire of papers and half-completed records that House had left behind. He'd been staying up late even when he was home, and worked nearly non-stop at the hospital, playing catch-up between cases.

After dinner, Alice had to drag Chase outside to see Hadley's progress, which he cheered before going back to the office. Alice went back to her book, halfway watching TV with her son. There was a knock at the door a little before 8 o'clock. Alice marked her place in the novel, opening the door to see a woman standing there with a blond boy a little older than Hadley. "Is Robert Chase here?"

"Yes, why?" Alice asked, looking them both up and down.

The woman smiled sadly, introducing herself. "My name's Brandi. This is Evan. Gosh, this is hard to say, but Evan's your husband's son."

Alice took a half step back. "Umm… I'll go get him. Just a moment." She closed the door softly, wondering if she would be able to be mad without crying. She didn't bother to knock on the office door, instead coming inside and standing next to Chase's chair.

"What's up, babe?"

"There's a woman outside looking for you. With your son." Puzzled, Chase followed her to the door.

Alice arrived early for work the next morning, visibly distraught. The diagnostics team, which now just consisted of Park and Taub, had grown used to this, consoling her every time she fought with Chase and had to be there the next day. This time, however, Alice knew what she had to do. She had to pull a House, do something that he would have done if a woman arrived with a child claiming to be his.

Standing in the lab, Alice zoned out while she was waiting for the machine to warm up. The previous night, they'd invited the woman and child in, allowing Evan and Hadley to play in the yard while they talked. Brandi had a convincing story - she'd definitely slept with Chase, something Alice remembered. Taub had shown her photos of the two of them emerging from the club where Brandi had worked. Evan was the right age, and his light hair was reminiscent of Chase's, even though the boy had his mother's eyes.

Brandi had waited to contact him because she had gotten married soon after she found out that she was pregnant, but when her husband turned out to be a deadbeat and they'd needed help, she had come knocking to collect years' worth of child support from the doctor. She'd cried over cappuccinos at their kitchen table, and Chase and Alice had listened, nodding along with her sad story. Alice had sat there in disbelief, trying to take in what had happened and exactly how massively her husband had screwed up his life.

 _For his part, Chase remained composed. This was exactly what he needed when he and Alice were already treading on unsteady ground. He had neglected to remind her of all of the times that he had failed her when she was regaining her memories, whether they were small failures, like forgetting to buy her favorite ice cream when she'd expressly asked or larger ones. Like Brandi. She'd remembered them on her own, but the details were still vague. It wasn't like he was keeping secrets. But now, listening to Brandi tell her life story, mistake after mistake piled upon him, the weight of what he had done becoming all too real as he watched his wife's heart break yet again._

 _Evan and Hadley came inside for popsicles before running back out, trying to beat each other in some soccer game they had devised in the yard. Alice stood, watching the boys out of the kitchen window as she went to refill her glass of water. SHe paused for a moment, watching the simplicity of a childhood game going on outside. The boys didn't worry about cheating husbands or bills or the things that they had forgotten. They didn't even worry about why they'd met, accepting the simple explanation that Evan's mom was a friend of Hadley's dad. They'd gotten to know each other immediately, as if they were long-lost relatives that had been reunited. Well, they could have been. She had to admit that it was possible._

 _Alice stood in the kitchen, cleaning up the remnants of coffee and desserts after Brandi and Evan had left. Chase had just called Hadley in to tell him that it was getting late and that he needed a shower if his mum was going to let him stay inside for long. Hadley tromped inside, dropping his cleats and a soccer ball by the door before taking the stairs two at a time. Alice shook her head, putting another plate in the dishwasher. Chase joined her in the kitchen, leaning against the counter. "I'm sorry, babe."_

" _That's a first." She bent to put a couple of forks into the dishwasher. "I have nothing to say to you. I have no idea what I'm supposed to say."_

She'd set aside the cup that Brandi had been drinking from, and grabbed Evan's water bottle from the recycling bin in an act of forethought in the middle of her anger and disappointment. House had taught her well, and if any of it had stuck, it was the ease with which someone could grab some DNA to run a test on. She'd taken some of Chase's breakfast dishes that morning, and had gone down to the lab as soon as she'd signed it.

Taub came into the room with a tray of test tubes, Park following behind him. "Good morning," he nodded. "What are you using the PCR machine for? I thought the Psych Department had its own lab."

"We do, but we don't have a PCR machine," Alice explained. "I'm using it for testing some DNA, but first I need to make more from the small samples I have."

"Obviously, but he meant to ask whose DNA you're testing, but he didn't want to intrude," Park clarified, turning on a microscope and preparing some slides.

Alice took a seat next to the PCR machine, simply saying, "Chase's possible love child."

Taub nearly dropped the test tube that he was holding. "What?" Park switched the microscope off, turning to Alice.

"A woman showed up at my house last night claiming to have had a child with my husband. It was one of those strippers he ran off with. You'd even told me about them," she nodded towards Taub. "The kid's age and physical features are about right, so I swiped their cups and I'm running their DNA as soon as I can get enough of it to run."

"I'm going to be a good person and not open a betting pool," Park resolved as she went back to work, Taub still dumbfounded.

Taub and Park stayed in the lab as long as they could, expectantly waiting for the results of the test. However, they both had to leave when their pagers went off, saying that their current patient had stopped breathing. Alice continued with her test, printing the results and comparing the DNA bands of a gel electrophoresis run on the closest light box.

Satisfied that she'd produced accurate results, she dropped the images in a folder and went to Chase's office. He was out, but she left the folder on his desk, propped up by the computer screen so he couldn't possibly miss them. With a sigh, she went back down to the Psych department and began to tackle a pile of work.

Chase found the folder when he returned from dealing with their patient, who had been stabilized but would require surgery within the next hour. He had been on the way to book an operating room when he noticed the printouts. He held up the images, reading the report to double-check them.

 **RESULTS OF DNA TEST BETWEEN SAMPLES 1 & 2: NO MATCH**

 **SAMPLES NOT CONSISTENT FOR PATERNITY MATCH**


	45. Chapter 45

Chase's phone rang in the middle of the night. He rolled over, nearly falling off of the air mattress set up in his study. "Hello?"

"Got a new patient for you," a nurse reported. "Twenty-year-old guy with mood swings and a severely red throat whose nose won't stop bleeding. No trauma of any kind."

"Okay. I'll be right in." He hung up, stretching with a yawn. He glanced at the clock, which read 4:46 AM. Quietly, as not to wake Hadley up, he went upstairs, softly knocking on his bedroom door. "Alice, we've - I've - got a case." There was no answer. "Alice?"

She wrenched the door open, angry that he had woken her up. "Fine. Grab some clothes, brush your teeth and go. Call me once you get to the hospital, and put one of the others on the line so I know you're there."

"I know the routine." He watched mournfully as she turned around, her curls bouncing as she walked away from him.

"Hmm." She could hear him getting ready as she laid back down. He had been sleeping in the study for nearly four months now, and still was not used to not having her on the team. But he hadn't stopped acting like he was her boss, so she hadn't let him back in their bed.

Two hours after he had checked in with her at the hospital, her phone rang again. "Chase, my alarm hasn't even gone off yet. What do you want?"

"A consult."

"Nice try."

"No, really. We'd like a psych expert to make sure his agitation and mood swings are part of this disease and not an underlying condition."

She sat up, yawning. "Why didn't Taub or Park or the new girl call me?"

"Taub and Park are trying to get his nosebleed under control, and Masters is with them, trying to look effective and get a procedure signed off for her degree. Look, can you just come in and check? Look him over?"

"Fine. I'll be there soon." She hung up, wrapping a bathrobe around herself before going to wake Hadley up.

He wasn't happy either. "Mom, I don't have to get up yet. School doesn't start for another few hours."

"I have to go in to the hospital early, so you've got to get yourself up and to the bus stop."

"Can't dad make me breakfast and everything?"

"Dad's already at the hospital. He's actually the one who called me in."

"Mom, are you and dad going to get a divorce?"

She sat down on his bed, saying, "I don't know. Stuff's been kind of difficult between your dad and I, but I don't know. That's something we'll have to discuss. But right now, I need to get to work."

Alice thought it over while she was driving. Chase hadn't gotten any better over the last four months. She'd moved on to the Psych Department, but was still as annoyed with him as she was when they were in the same conference room every day. Even seeing him at home was getting to be a lot. Maybe she'd talk over the possibility of getting a divorce with him when she had time. Yes, she'd make sure they talked about it soon. At least discuss the possibility that it might happen.

Masters, a med student that the Diagnostics Department had taken on a few months earlier, greeted Alice when she arrived. "Uh, hi. The patient has mood swings and a red throat. We think it's covered in petechiae and not just swollen," she told her as they walked. "And his nose is bleeding. We've given him artificial clotting factors, and that's slowed it down significantly, but he's still bleeding off and on. Dr. Chase wanted to make sure the mood swings-"

"Are part of the bleeding and petechiae," Alice finished. "He told me."

"Ah... okay."

"You sound like you've got an opinion already." Alice paused outside the patient's door. "What Is it?"

"You should talk to him. Chase, I mean. He misses you. I can tell."

"Thanks for the advice." Alice walked into the room, leaving Masters to bite her lip and wonder if she had done the right thing.

"It's part of the disease," Alice reported an hour later. She leaned against the countertop in the diagnostics conference room. Taub, Park, Masters and Chase all sat around the table. Alice glanced over at the list of symptoms, and then erased the multiple question marks beside 'mood swings'. "They're not preexisting. I verified with his medical records and his mom, who will be flying up here soon. If that's it-"

"No," Chase responded automatically. "I mean... we could use your help."

"Warrens will have to approve," Alice reminded him. The head of the Psych Department would be easy to convince. He knew how the Diagnostics team worked, and what the team meant to the hospital.

"I'll call Warrens." Chase went back into his office and picked up the phone.

"Excuse me," a nurse knocked on the glass door before coming in. "He's vomiting. We got him to stop, but we figured you should know."

"What's wrong with me?" The patient had managed four consecutive words before he retched again.

"We're not sure yet," Alice confessed, replacing his IV fluids. "We're keeping you on fluids now to make up for what you've lost. We're going to hook up a blood transfusion soon too. You lost quite a lot, and the nurses said your nose started bleeding again because of the shock when you threw up."

"Do you drink a lot? Smoke?" Masters asked, taking a seat with a checklist.

"No."

"Family history of cancer? Diabetes? Heart disease?"

"No to all three."

"What about international travel?"

"I just got back from Kosovo. Other than that, nothing since Mexico a few years ago over Spring Break."

"Why Kosovo?" Alice asked. "What did you do there?"

"I went for an archeology course. It was a week and a half, and I felt fine. The last few days I spent exploring on my own. I went everywhere - the cities, the woods, the countryside. It was amazing."

"Did you meet anyone with your symptoms while you were there?"

He thought for a moment before saying, "No. Not that I remember."

"Dr. Chase, look at this." Masters pulled her over to the other side of the bed, where she had found blood in his urine collection bag. "His kidneys are failing."

"At this rate, they won't approve a transplant," Park said in the diagnostics room, shaking her head. Chase was on the phone with the transplant committee anyway, trying to get approval for one kidney, let alone two. "We still don't even have a diagnosis."

"Kidney cancer," Masters proposed.

Alice shook her head. "It would've had to metastasize to the stomach and the lungs for intense vomiting and nosebleeds. We would've seen the kidney failure first. Plus he has no family history."

"What about infection? He's been out of the country recently," Taub pointed out. "That leaves open a lot of options."

"It could've set off an underlying condition," Park added.

"What underlying condition presents like this?"

"What if it's an infection alone? Underlying genetic conditions would have some signs in other family members. His history is clean."

"Hantavirus?"

"No, the mood swings don't fit," Alice contradicted. "This couldn't be a weird presentation of Lyme, could it?"

"I don't think so. No target rash," Taub said. He flipped through the file again before saying, "California encephalitis virus."

"That would be a concern if he had any of the symptoms of encephalitis," Chase chipped in, his hand over the receiver. "I'm on hold."

Their pagers went off, Park reading that, "His abdomen is swelling."

Chase had pulled on a pair of gloves, feeling the patient's stomach. He still held the phone to his ear with a shoulder in hope. "Stomach itself seems to be okay. Your liver's swelling, though."

"Fever's holding at 101," Masters noted. "It's got to be an infection."

"Mood swings, nosebleeds, throat petechiae, vomiting, more nosebleeds, kidney failure, liver swelling, and more nosebleeds… oh lord…"

"What?" Chase asked, looking at Taub, who had started to piece things together.

"Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever. We've all been exposed."

"What are the odds?" Masters asked, sitting on the floor. They all had remained in the patient's room, calling Foreman to have a separate quarantine area set up. The patient had fallen asleep, but the rest of them waited to be able to move.

"30% chance he'll die in the next few days. He definitely needs a new kidney, maybe two. He might also need a liver if this fries it too badly."

The phone rang, Alice standing to get it. "We can move now," she announced.

They opened the door carefully, stepping into the hall. It had been lined with plastic sheeting, leading to the room next door, where they were going to be held until the CDC deemed them virus-free. Once inside, they called Foreman again to tell him they had made it. Soon, people in Hazmat suits would take down the tunnel they had walked through and bleach or burn it.

Looking around, they all took spots in the hospital room. Taub sat on one bed, Masters and Park sitting on the other. Chase took the chair next to Taub's bed, Alice sitting far away from him, balancing on top of a cabinet. She took out her phone and texted Hadley, telling him they'd probably be home late. Park's Popo would be over to make him dinner. Remember to lock the doors and please feed the dog.

"How's everyone feeling?" Chase asked an hour or so later.

"Fine." Alice leaned on the wall, watching Taub change the channel on the room's TV.

"Tired," Park yawned, turning so she could go to sleep.

"Hungry."

"Okay."

Chase nodded, lapsing back into silence. By six o'clock, they had been fed and given a care package box of granola bars, their phone chargers, and a stack of books. Everything was set out in the corridor that the CDC had turned into an airlock. There would be a call into the room or a knock on the door, and they would retrieve the box after five minutes so the person delivering it could leave. Every hour, they had to call out and report on everyone.

Taub had spent time watching TV, everyone finally agreeing to leave the news on after a lot of bickering over what sitcom or soap opera to watch. Masters had devoured the books they had been given. Park was working on a crossword puzzle, Alice looking over her shoulder and helping on tough questions. Chase was occupied with paperwork that he was able to complete from his phone. By ten, nearly everyone was falling asleep.

Chase had just called to report that they were all doing okay when he noticed that Alice was staring at him from her corner. In the light of the moon that was streaming in through the open blinds, he could tell that she was thinking. He moved his chair closer, asking, "Do you want to talk?"

"About what?"

"I know that face. It means you're thinking. What's up?"

"I miss you," she confessed. "I miss talking to you, waking up next to you, the million little things we'd do together. But you can't treat your family like your employees. And you can't keep huge secrets from us. Chase… do you think we should get a divorce?"

"Honey, I'll… I'll do anything." He paused, resisting the impulse to get up and hug her. "Anything you want me to. If you really want to get a divorce… okay. But if you're willing to try…"

"What happened with Cameron? Do you two have a child too?" she blurted out, praying Foreman and Taub were wrong.

"We slept together while you were recovering. It was years ago, and it was nothing. You were with Wilson at the time-"

"I never slept with Wilson."

"I'm sorry, I really am. I felt incredibly guilty afterwards… really, this has nothing to do with what's going on now." Masters rolled over in her sleep, halfway listening.

"Oh really? If you never told me about that, what else haven't you told me?"

"That's it, I swear. I'm sorry I was weak then. I thought we were going to split up."

"You were supposed to be supportive-"

"I had my stuff packed. If I remember right, you were the one who gave me a suitcase."

"What about Hadley? Who was there for him them? If I was just figuring out who the hell I was, shouldn't you have spent more time at home and less time philandering?" She sat up on the cabinet, her feet hovering a few inches off the ground. She was ready to jump down and leave, but that wouldn't have been possible.

"I visited every day when he was at Cuddy's. I don't think you did."

They turned to see Taub, who had sat up. "You two are almost shouting. I want to sleep. Shut up." He lay back down and fell asleep promptly.

Masters, on the other hand, sat up and told them, "Look, I got here when you two were already mad at each other. But I've heard about you from the others. I've never been great at being a people person or a relationship person, but I could tell the two of you were once extremely happy. Alice, listen to your husband and don't just talk all the time. Try and understand where he's coming from. He was missing his wife for a while, plus he's got House's legacy to compete with. Chase, even if your wife works for you, you've got to let her be a strong, independent woman or she won't want you in her life at all. And spend more time with your son. I mean, you had me buy and wrap your gift for his twelfth birthday last month. Try to be a family. I'm sure you'll be surprised at what you can do."

Chase looked over at Alice, who nodded. "We should try to be a family again. I'm sorry I haven't paid much attention to you. And that I'm a stubborn bitch sometimes."

"I'm sorry too." He got up and hugged her for the first time in months. "Sorry I'm an ass. Sorry I forgot to give you an anniversary present, that I didn't tell you everything, that I'm turning into House."

She hugged him back, whispering, "I love you, Chase."

They were allowed to leave the next afternoon, when none of them had exhibited any symptoms. They'd still have to check in over the next few days, but they were allowed to go home. Chase, Alice, and Hadley sat down and had a family dinner for the first time in weeks. They were able to laugh together, a great weight lifted from all of them. Over dessert, Chase announced, "Your mother and I have been thinking. We've been through a rough patch, and we've been at work a whole lot. So we're going to take some time off this summer and go to Australia."

They did indeed spend nearly a month in Australia that summer. Hadley collected shark teeth with his mom and went surfing with his dad, which Alice was extremely proud of. She came home with a terrible sunburn (after all, Australian beaches and redheads don't mix well, even with gallons of sunscreen), while Chase and Hadley tanned nicely. She and Chase went shark cage diving, something they had always wanted to do. They'd gone hiking and spent time in the Outback, where Chase saved his wife from an evil-looking spider that had wandered too close for her likening. He'd taken her to a performance at the Sydney Opera House to make up for all of the nature they'd encountered that wasn't in the Australia Zoo. They'd even visited where Chase had grown up. They would return to Australia ever so often, just like they'd promised themselves when they were first married.

Taub went on to raise his two daughters well, and stayed on the team for a very long time. When he finally retired, he'd put one daughter through business school and the other through her Bachelor's in Education.

Foreman led the hospital with efficiency that could have only been rivaled by Cuddy. He helped Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital keep its status as one of the best diagnostic and training centers in the United States, and made sure that the Diagnostics Department always remained open and well-funded.

Park moved on to run the Neurology Department at Johns Hopkins, but she would often call and check in with her old team. She'd still visit for the holidays, and often spent Christmas with the Chases.

Masters stayed at PPTH for a while, becoming a fully-fledged member of the team once she passed her board exams and was given her medical license. She eventually relaxed her morals to occasionally break into patients' homes, but she always preferred to have an actual reason. She met someone as intellectual and moral as herself, and got married years after getting her degree.

Alice rejoined the Diagnostics Department, with Chase in the lead. They stayed at PPTH for the rest of their careers, eventually retiring to upstate New York but still coming in or Skyping the team to consult on extremely challenging cases. Hadley graduated with honors from Georgetown Med, and started his career at PPTH, moving on to New York Mercy when they offered him a leadership position. Although the Chases didn't totally live happily ever after, they were satisfied with their lives, proud of their son, and devoted to each other.

 _ **A.N.: WOW! I can't believe this is over... I'll miss writing all of these brilliant minds. It's been a very long time since I began... What am I going to do with my time now? It seems like just a little while ago that a teacher of mine got me addicted to House and the PPTH universe. House has changed my life so much, and is part of the reason I'm considering becoming a doctor. Anyway, thank you to all of those who have been here from the beginning, and thank you to those who have just started reading. Thank you for all of your support, your reviews, and your patience when I got stuck in writer's block. Thank you all so much.**_


End file.
